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France has said only people aged 55 and over should receive the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, and three Scandinavian countries have reserved judgment until next week, a day after Europe’s health regulator declared the shot to be safe and effective for all age groups.
As politicians launched an urgent effort to convince citizens of the vaccine’s safety, France’s health regulator said its use should resume “without delay”.
Related: Europe still uneasy about AstraZeneca Covid jab despite EMA green light
Here’s the government response to the story we reported earlier (see 10.02am) on Labour calling for an investigation into whether former prime minister David Cameron reportedly lobbying for a specialist bank that has since gone bust to handle extra government-backed Covid loans.
The Financial Times reported that Greensill wanted to have its cap lifted so it could lend up to 200 million as part of the coronavirus large business interruption loan scheme (CLBILS), increasing its limit of £50 million at the time.
Senior officials and ministers routinely meet with a range of private sector stakeholders. During the Covid pandemic the Government received many representations from the entire spectrum of British business. HM Treasury considered the representations made by the company with proper and due process and the decision was taken not to provide the support requested.
Treasury officials regularly meet with stakeholders to discuss our economic response to Covid. The meetings in question were primarily about broadening the scope of CCFF to enable access for providers of supply chain finance, which – following a call for evidence and discussions with several other firms within the sector – we decided against and informed the businesses concerned.
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