Amid a shambolic rollout across the bloc, Brussels has demanded drug firms give them early warning when exporting Covid jabs to countries outside the 27 member states, including tens of millions of doses destined for Britain. Vaccine Minister Nadhim Zahawi insisted this morning that the UK's huge push to get the four most vulnerable groups covered by mid-February will not be derailed. But the sabre-rattling incensed senior MPs, with former health secretary Jeremy Hunt slamming 'vaccine nationalism' and saying the EU must not block supplies that have been bought 'legally and fairly'. Meanwhile, there is another row raging after two German newspapers claimed the EU's regulator could refuse to give the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab full approval, with officials anonymously briefing its efficacy for pensioners was just eight per cent. However, the claim was branded 'absolutely incorrect' and 'unsubstantiated' by the pharmaceutical company - and No10 sources told MailOnline it was 'rubbish'. One Whitehall source told Playbook it was the kind of tactics 'you expect from the Russians'. Tory MP Damian Collins suggested the briefing was connected to wrangling between the EU and AstraZeneca - which is based in the UK, whereas Pfizer has a manufacturing hub in Belgium - over access to supplies. 'Either way it is dangerous and irresponsible and only helps the anti vaccine movement,' he said.
