London, March 22 (TIWN) UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will speak to leaders of the European Union (EU) over the phone to discuss a ban on the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine exports to the country, a media report said.

The BBC report said that Johnson will make the calls this week in a bid "to persuade them to veto any proposal that would prevent vaccine exports from entering the UK".  The latest flashpoint appears to be over doses made in a Dutch factory, the report said.  Some of the leaders the Prime Minister is likely to speak with are French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to British officials quoted by the Financial Times. 

On Thursday, the EU leaders will hold a virtual meeting to discuss the ban on exports of the jabs to the UK which comes after they faced widespread faced criticism for the slow pace of the vaccine rollout on the continent.