Baroness Hallett’s probe will look at whether Britain leaving the European Union on 31 January 2020 – the day the first UK Covid cases were confirmed – played a part in the government’s subsequent response to the virus janemerrick23 and paulwaugh report
Baroness Hallett’s probe will look at whether Britain leaving the European Union on 31 January 2020 – the day the first UK Covid cases were confirmed – played a part in the government’s subsequent response to the virus.Ministers have long argued that being outside the EU as the pandemic hit in 2020 allowed the UK to pursue its ownstrategy, including procuring and licensing jabs for use in the country months ahead of member states.
However, while it was true that the UK’s vaccines rollout happened faster than the EU, the suggestion that this was due to Brexit was rejected in 2021 by Kate Bingham, the former head of the government’s vaccines taskforce, and the UK’s medicines watchdog the MHRA, which said it had approved the first Pfizer vaccine under EU law.
While the UK’s vaccines response is being investigated by Lady Hallett’s inquiry later on, under Module 4, her first module – which will examine whether the country was prepared for a pandemic – includes taking evidence on “any impact arising from the UK’s departure from the European Union”. The public inquiry will open with a statement from Lady Hallett and a film of people bereaved by the virus will be played to the hearing.
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