UK: Johnson says ‘greed’, ‘capitalism’ behind vaccine successes

PM’s comments in a closed Zoom meeting with Conservative MPs came as the country remembered more than 125,000 COVID victims.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has told legislators from his governing Conservative Party that “capitalism” and “greed” were behind the United Kingdom’s rapid COVID-19 vaccination programme. Johnson’s comments on Tuesday, reported by The Sun newspaper, were made during a closed Zoom meeting with Conservative MPs in which he also praised pharmaceutical companies for developing vaccines at speed. “The reason we have the vaccine success is because of capitalism, because of greed my friends,” Johnson was quoted as saying.