EU chief executive Ursula von der Leyen vigorously defended the European Commission’s record on vaccines on Tuesday and described a proposal that would have set up border checks on the island of Ireland as the sort of slip made when in a hurry.
In interviews with newspapers across Europe, the European Commission president sought to defuse mounting criticism over the EU’s slow start to COVID-19 vaccinations and outrage over a decision, swiftly reversed, to invoke Article 16 of the Northern Ireland protocol.
Von der Leyen, who has tweeted but not appeared in public since the bloc mandated that vaccine exports require clearance, was asked by the Irish Times if she would apologise.
The Commission chief replied that she regretted that Article 16 was in a “provisional version” of the decision, but said the EU executive had been “quick on its feet” to find another solution.
She also spoke about the headstart enjoyed by the UK in its vaccination programme.
“Some countries started to vaccinate a little before Europe, it is true,” she said, asked about the UK. “But they resorted to emergency, 24-hour marketing authorisation procedures.
“The commission and the member states agreed not to compromise with the safety and efficacy requirements linked to the authorisation of a vaccine. Time had to be taken to analyse the data, which, even minimised, takes three to four weeks.
“So, yes, Europe left it later, but it was the right decision. I remind you that a vaccine is the injection of an active biological substance into a healthy body. We are talking about mass vaccination here, it is a gigantic responsibility.”
