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France 'stole' millions of Covid vaccines from UK in an 'act of war': Report

WION Web Team
Paris, FranceUpdated: Oct 06, 2021, 05:41 PM IST
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Photograph:(Reuters)

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AstraZeneca's boss Rudd Dobber had stated that a large shipment of millions of doses was expected to arrive from Holland. However, that shipment never reached there as it was diverted to the EU

While the world is coming together to help each other in these tough times of the coronavirus pandemic, France may have stolen millions of Covid vaccine doses from the UK.

As per some reports, France allegedly stole nearly five million Covid vaccines from the UK by plotting a scheme with European Union chiefs.

French President Emmanuel Macron has been accused of plotting with the chiefs of European Union and taking the vaccines that were meant for Boris Johnson-ruled country.

As per reports, AstraZeneca's boss Rudd Dobber had stated that a large shipment of millions of doses was expected to arrive from Holland. However, that shipment never reached there as it was diverted to the EU.

UK’s local media house, The Sun, reported that a source from the UK government has said that this 'outrageous' disruption of supply of Covid vaccine system was equivalent to an ‘act of war’.

"The French stole our vaccines at the same time as they were slagging them off in public and suggesting they weren't safe to use," the source was quoted saying by The Sun. "It was an outrageous thing to do and not the action of an ally, which was made very clear to them."

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This action by France, the source claims, could and may have led to lost of lives of several people who were waiting for first or second dose of the vaccine to safeguard themselves from the deadly coronavirus.

It has also been reported that the French leader may have also softly threatened the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson about its power to cut off the supply of Pfizer. If Macron had acted on cutting off Pfizer supply, UK’s vaccine rollout would have suffered a major setback. This has also, reportedly, brought bad blood between the two leaders.

Allegedly, Macron also labelled AstraZeneca vaccine as "quasi-ineffective" and claimed that it "doesn’t work the way we were expecting to".