The defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has said the government will protect the success of its vaccination programme at all costs, as speculation grows that strict restrictions on foreign travel could continue into the summer.
Asked about the prospects for travel, Wallace said: ‘We can’t be deaf and blind to what’s going on outside the United Kingdom. If you look in Europe, and the increases in infections, we can’t put at risk the huge amount of risk, by the taxpayer, by the NHS, by our scientists, in developing this vaccine.
‘And if we were to be reckless in any way, and import new variants that put it at risk, then what would people say about that?’ he asked Sophy Ridge on Sky News. ‘We’ve got good direction of travel, we’re getting there, and I think we need to make sure we preserve that at all costs.’
This content first appear on the guardian