EU Coronavirus Vaccine Programme Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Lord Kilclooney
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EU Coronavirus Vaccine Programme
Lord Kilclooney Excerpts(3 years, 9 months ago)
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Lord Callanan
I had not seen the comments that my noble friend refers to, but I agree with them. We do have a number of promising vaccine production methods going on. However, if there are future international collaborations, either with the EU or with other international partners, then we rule nothing out because we need to work together to find an appropriate vaccine.
Lord Kilclooney (CB)
My Lords, since Brexit, which I supported, the United Kingdom has withdrawn from the Galileo satellite project, the Erasmus university programme and now the European vaccine programme. Can the Minister please confirm that, in the context of co-operation, we look forward to much co-operation with our European neighbours?
Lord Callanan
Yes, I agree with the noble Lord. Whilst we have decided not to participate in this particular initiative, we are committed to strengthening our collaboration with the EU and international partners on vaccines outside this framework. I assure the noble Lord that we will indeed continue to work with our European partners in other areas of mutual interest.