Hancock says he didn’t want UK Covid scientists to partner with US in case Trump STOLE supplies

Matt Hancock today claimed he talked scientists out of a deal to make Covid jabs in the US — because he was scared Donald Trump would steal them.

The ex-Health Secretary argued he was worried the then-US president and his ‘America first’ policy could see the Oxford University-developed vaccine blocked from leaving the country.

At the time in 2020, Oxford’s team were developing the promising jab but needed a pharmaceutical firm to handle production and manufacturing.

In the end, the Government-sponsored group at Oxford struck a deal with the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca — to be made in England and the Netherlands.

Mr Hancock said: ‘When they [Oxford] had to partner up with a major manufacturer I was not comfortable with that all happening offshore in the US.

‘I was actually worried about Donald Trump [keeping the vaccines]’.

Mr Hancock added ‘it turned out I needed to be worried about the EU’, referencing a geo-political spat with the bloc over AstraZeneca doses.

He made the comments during a radio interview with HealthTech Hour. It comes after he last month revealed he was publishing a book about his experiences during Covid.

The AstraZeneca jab, which has since been given to nearly 25million Britons, was smeared by some EU leaders due to concerns about blood clots.

Brussels even blocked shipments of hundreds of thousands of doses of AstraZeneca bound for Australia, after a dispute about delivery deadlines for vaccine supplies to the continent. 

Britain, like several other countries in Europe, currently does not offer AZ vaccine to people under 40 after it was linked to clotting disorders in 2021. 

It is the latest interview from Mr Hancock, who was forced to resign as Health Secretary last year when it emerged he had an affair with a married aide which broke his own social distancing rules.

He revealed last month he is writing a book about his time in Government during the pandemic.

Mr Hancock has also faced criticism over other aspects of his handling of the crisis, such as telling young people ‘don’t kill gran’ as part of social distancing measures, and failing to shield care homes.

Disgraced ex-Health Secretary Hancock he didn’t want Oxford University’s scientists to partner with US firm to make a Covid vaccine

Mr Hancock says he was worried a partnership between Oxford and the US could give then President Donald Trump the opportunity to take British jabs for Americans  

Other topics the MP discussed during his interview with Health Hour include him claiming the UK never ran out of PPE and how he wants his role in the pandemic to be remembered. 

‘I hope that people understand that we took the best decisions we could in difficult circumstances in a fog of uncertainty,’ he said. 

The UK’s track record on buying PPE during the pandemic has also been criticised as after it emerged that nearly half a billion pounds was wasted on useless equipment at the start of the pandemic could have paid for a new NHS hospital.

Department of Health officials admitted last month that £461million of taxpayer cash was blown on masks, gowns and gloves intended to protect medical staff and patients from Covid that were found to be unfit for use. 

Ministers spent £14.8billion on securing PPE in the first year of Covid, according to annual Department of Health accounts. But roughly £8.7bn was written off, either because it was unusable or passed the expiry date. 

The former minister claimed the UK did not run out of PPE runs contrary to the experiences of some NHS staff, with some reporting at the height of the pandemic of using repurposed bin bags instead.

Mr Hancock’s upcoming book will be released by Biteback Publishing in October.