The counterfactual ‘if UK was still in EU it would have slowed vaccinations’ doesn’t make sense.

Without #Brexit, UK could have (and surely would have):

Said no to joint procurement
Emergency-authorised early

But couldn’t have:

Had vaccine deliveries from EU restricted

When you point out UK did both these things last year while under EU rules, some say "but if we werent leaving we'd have been pressured to stay in line"

Who really believes any such pressure would have worked? UK has refused to join EU programs all the time (ex: Schengen & euro)

The EU joint procurement scheme has always been *voluntary*. All EU/EEA countries decided it's best to join it to avoid #VaccineWar.

Once they join, they can't make side deals for vaccines in the program. But UK surely wouldn't have joined in 1st place. https://ec.europa.eu/health/security/preparedness_response_en

Many still believe these 2 UK decisions were the wrong ones.

They enabled an earlier start to vaccinations but opened possibility of #VaccineWar, rushed approval without full data and more costs to taxpayers.

The point is, even as EU member, UK would likely have done the same.