Thread by @TwisterFilm

1./ The EU's @CharlesMichel claims today the UK restricts vaccine exports. It doesn't. The UK paid for an entirely new vaccine supply chain expressly for domestic supply because it feared shortages. Any EU country could have done the same. If they'd had the foresight.👇

https://twitter.com/eucopresident/status/1369398650946850822

2./ It was clear from last spring there would be vaccine supply chain problems from glass vials to raw materials. The UK brought together AstraZeneca with 3 different companies to make a home-based pipeline The EU trusted in the free market alone.👇

https://twitter.com/TwisterFilm/status/1346527272166109184

3./ Unlike the UK, the EU also contracted late and incompetently with pharma companies who'd already contracted with other countries (like Canada) to supply them. These companies refused to sign exclusive domestic production deals with the tardy EU. Is that the UK's fault?

4./ An example of the differing approach: in July the UK agreed to pay the FRENCH company Valneva to build us a second new vaccine plant. It opens soon in Scotland. The EU only opened negotiations with the FRENCH company this February. Hey, no rush. 👇

https://twitter.com/TwisterFilm/status/1351127756961144834?s=20

5./ The truth is as @PeterTiede from @BILD recently wrote "the EU did not do what it is supposed to do: take care of our Europe. And our 27 governments either did not intervene or intervened too late." This is an EU tragedy; not one of the UK's making.👇thetimes.co.uk/article/ursula…