Amid a bitter cross-border accusation over the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine, one of the scientists behind the drug accused French President Emmanuel Macron of trying to suppress the demand.
On Friday, Macron said the vaccine is “almost ineffective for people over 65, some say 60 or older.”
“I’m not sure where he got this from,” John Bell, a professor of medicine at Oxford University, told BBC Radio 4’s Today program. “I suspect this is a bit of a demand management from Mr Macron.” he said. “If you haven’t had a vaccine, the best thing you can do is reduce demand.”
EU leaders reacted angrily this month to AstraZeneca’s announcement that production would not far exceed initially anticipated volumes. Macron’s fresh comments came hours before the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine was approved by the EU regulator for use in all age groups.
While the European Medicines Agency said there was not yet enough evidence to assess its effectiveness in the elderly, they said there was no reason to believe the vaccine would not work.
Bell, who oversaw the vaccine’s development, acknowledged that the number of elderly people tested “was small, fair,” but the data “indicated another very effective vaccine” in all age groups.
The AstraZeneca vaccine is at the heart of a continuous supply line between the UK and the EU. The EU on Friday called on customs authorities to block exports of all Saturday vaccines without explicit authorization – an announcement that would have initially included exports to Northern Ireland.
This triggered an immediate return from both the EU capitals and London, as well as a reversal in the European Commission’s late night, due to the sensitivity of the Irish border agreements.
EU chief negotiator for Brexit Michel Barnier called for calm in the Times in an interview published on Saturday, saying: “I think we need to face this crisis responsibly, certainly not in the spirit of unhealthy assumptions or competition.”
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