Czech PM under fire over EU vaccine deal

Prime Minister Andrej Babis has come under fire from the opposition and his own coalition partner, the Social Democrats, for the outcome of the EU vaccine talks which resulted in the Czech Republic losing out on approximately 70,000 additional vaccines.

Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček said the prime minister had not consulted his negotiating strategy with anyone and should take personal responsibility for the outcome. He should apologize to all those who will now have to wait much longer for a vaccine, the foreign minister wrote on Twitter.

The opposition parties said the prime minister had miserably failed in his duty to the nation and was clearly a very poor negotiator.

Prime Minister Babiš, who had pushed for a vaccine distribution mechanism per capita, said the agreement announced was unjust and had been forced by the strong players. There is no real solidarity behind closed doors, he said.