UK says it will not join the EU's COVID-19 vaccine scheme

Britain has turned down the chance to join a 2.4 billion-euro European Union plan to secure advance purchases of promising COVID-19 vaccines, saying it would not have had a say over the programme.

"The UK government has decided on this occasion not to join this internal EU initiative, but given our shared interest in ensuring that vaccines are available to all, we are committed to strengthening our collaboration with the EU outside the framework," Britain's ambassador to the EU, Tim Barrow, said. (Writing by William Schomberg; editing by Stephen Addison)