Labour claims UK ministers risking emergence of new Covid variants

Government accused of thwarting poorer countries' bid to manufacture their own vaccines

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Labour has claimed ministers are risking the emergence of other Covid variants like Omicron by thwarting a bid by poorer countries to manufacture their own vaccines.

The British government has actively blocked countries in Africa and across the developing world from making their own vaccines" by opposing a waiver on intellectual property rights for Covid vaccines, the party says.