Contemplated for Employment in COVID-19 Vaccine Military Applications
During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, reports surfaced that the then-British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, contemplated a military operation in the Netherlands. According to the "Guardian", Johnson's upcoming memoirs suggest that the plan involved dispatching soldiers to seize COVID-19 vaccines from a facility in Leiden.
Johnson supposedly assigned the military in the spring of 2021 to appraise the feasibility of a sea operation on the warehouse, which was said to be storing approximately five million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine at the time. Johnson believed that the vaccine was rightfully the UK's as it had been developed there. At that time, the UK and EU were engaged in a dispute over vaccine exports.
Lieutenant General Doug Chalmers, the Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff, reportedly informed Johnson that the mission was feasible and would require using inflatable boats to traverse the sea. "Upon reaching the target, they would infiltrate, secure the goods, and depart towards the Channel ports," Johnson is quoted as saying in his memoirs.
However, Chalmers reportedly pointed out that carrying out the mission without detection would be challenging, implying that Britain would need to justify its actions to a long-standing NATO ally. Johnson acknowledged the complexity, admitting, "I knew they were right, and subconsciously, I agreed with their assessment, but I didn't want to voice it aloud: the entire concept was absurd."
The military operation Johnson contemplated involved seizing COVID-19 vaccines from a facility in The Netherlands, specifically in Leiden. Despite the disputes between the UK and EU over vaccine exports during that period, The Netherlands, as a NATO ally, would need to be justified if Britain were to carry out such an operation undetected.
