Coronavirus

BREAKING: AstraZeneca walk out of talks with EU as tensions continue to grow between both sides regarding contract and supplies of Covid vaccines.

[heero_yuy]

Looks like their bully boy tactics have badly backfired.

Originally Posted by Mick

BREAKING: AstraZeneca walk out of talks with EU as tensions continue to grow between both sides regarding contract and supplies of Covid vaccines.

The EU’s behaviour here is ridiculous. Everyone should read the La Repubblica article Andrew posted yesterday. It’s an interview with AstraZeneca’s CEO who is clearly frustrated by their game playing.

They signed up for the Oxford-AstraZenica vaccine three months after the UK but demanded supplies on the same basis as the UK. AZ told the European Commission this simply would not be possible because establishing new production capacity always throws up teething problems that take time to fix. The deal AZ signed with the EU was therefore on a “best effort” basis. As long as AZ has been working hard and in good faith to fulfil the order from the EU then the contract is being met.

If AZ people turned up in Brussels today to find out they were in for a carpeting for not doing something they always warned they couldn’t guarantee to do, then I’m not surprised they decided not to go through with the meeting.

The question now is whether the EU decides to try to interfere in export of vaccine products. Pascal Soriot (AZ CEO) has warned that due to the nature of its supply chains, all this will achieve will be to slow things down still further.

[heero_yuy]

Quote from The Sun:

THE EU was cracking up amid Covid vaccine chaos last night after desperate Hungary broke ranks to grab its own supplies - from the UK and Russia.

Brussels has insisted on negotiating for life-saving drugs on behalf of its 27 member states - with disastrous results which sparked shortages and distribution chaos.

But Hungarian leaders maddened by endless delays have now clinched a back door deal with Vladimir Putin to buy the Russian coronavirus vaccine, Sputnik V.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief of staff confirmed approval had been given to the Russian jab and a contract for two million doses was signed.

Early results from trials of the Russian vaccine have allegedly shown promising results - but worrying side effects were also reported amid fears Putin’s boffins rushed it into production.

Hungarian health officials have also unilaterally approved the UK’s Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine - bypassing Brussels again.

Hungary putting the well being of its citizens ahead of bureaucratic wrangling by Brussels.

[joglynne]

Originally Posted by Chris

The EU’s behaviour here is ridiculous. Everyone should read the La Repubblica article Andrew posted yesterday. It’s an interview with AstraZeneca’s CEO who is clearly frustrated by their game playing.

They signed up for the Oxford-AstraZenica vaccine three months after the UK but demanded supplies on the same basis as the UK. AZ told the European Commission this simply would not be possible because establishing new production capacity always throws up teething problems that take time to fix. The deal AZ signed with the EU was therefore on a “best effort” basis. As long as AZ has been working hard and in good faith to fulfil the order from the EU then the contract is being met.

If AZ people turned up in Brussels today to find out they were in for a carpeting for not doing something they always warned they couldn’t guarantee to do, then I’m not surprised they decided not to go through with the meeting.

The question now is whether the EU decides to try to interfere in export of vaccine products. Pascal Soriot (AZ CEO) has warned that due to the nature of its supply chains, all this will achieve will be to slow things down still further.

As someone who has only had the first Pfizer jab the threat of there not being a second jab available for myself and all the other older/vunerable/key medical workers is extremely worrying. I accepted that more people getting a jab justified the delay but I need to know just how this will pan out if the follow up jab is further delayed.

My hope is that tests are currently being undertaken to confirm the levels of cover the single Pfizer vaccination has actually given us and whether those levels of cover start to decrease over the coming weeks/months.

[nomadking]

“The UK agreement was reached in June, three months before the European one. As you could imagine, the UK government said the supply coming out of the UK supply chain would go to the UK first. Basically, that's how it is. In the EU agreement it is mentioned that the manufacturing sites in the UK were an option for Europe, but only later. But we're moving very quickly, the supply in the UK is very rapid. The government is vaccinating 2.5 million people a week, about 500,000 a day, our vaccine supply is growing quickly. As soon as we have reached a sufficient number of vaccinations in the UK, we will be able to use that site to help Europe as well. But the contract with the UK was signed first and the UK, of course, said “you supply us first”, and this is fair enough. This vaccine was developed with the UK government, Oxford and with us as well. As soon as we can, we'll help the EU.

Not sure what the EU are griping about. The UK supply goes first to the UK, the EU also gets part of the UK supply, if and when there is a surplus. The EU supply goes to the EU. The EU is not supplying the UK.

Army carries out a controlled detonation on a suspicious package delivered to a plant making COVID vaccine:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-55822838

[1andrew1]

This looks a far more constructive move than trying to stop companies honouring their contracts.

French firm Sanofi to help produce 100 million doses of Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine

Sanofi will fill and pack millions of doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine from July in an effort to help meet the huge demand for the U.S. drugmaker's shots.

The French company will aim to help supply more than 100 million doses of the vaccine this year from its German plant in Frankfurt, CEO Paul Hudson told Le Figaro newspaper on Tuesday.

Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech are, like other COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers such as AstraZeneca, struggling to meet the huge demand for shots that are the world's best bet for overcoming the pandemic.

Last month, Sanofi and Britain's GlaxoSmithKline said a COVID-19 vaccine they are jointly developing had shown an insufficient immune response in older people, delaying its launch to late this year.

https://www.france24.com/en/france/2...vid-19-vaccine

---------- Post added at 15:26 ---------- Previous post was at 15:25 ----------

Originally Posted by Chris

Army carries out a controlled detonation on a suspicious package delivered to a plant making COVID vaccine:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-55822838

Hope it turned out be a false alarm, otherwise no words really.

[papa smurf]

Coronavirus: EU demands UK-made AstraZeneca vaccine doses

The EU has urged pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca to supply it with more doses of its Covid-19 vaccine from UK plants, amid a row over shortages.

Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said the company was wrong to say its agreement with the EU was non-binding.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-55822602

Originally Posted by papa smurf

Coronavirus: EU demands UK-made AstraZeneca vaccine doses

The EU has urged pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca to supply it with more doses of its Covid-19 vaccine from UK plants, amid a row over shortages.

Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said the company was wrong to say its agreement with the EU was non-binding.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-55822602

There’s nothing quite so amusing as impotent rage. Especially when it’s the sound of a jumped-up Brussels Eurocrat having a full-on, dummy-spitting tantrum.

[papa smurf]

Originally Posted by Chris

There’s nothing quite so amusing as impotent rage. Especially when it’s the sound of a jumped-up Brussels Eurocrat having a full-on, dummy-spitting tantrum.

Given that they earlier suggested the drug would not be allowed to leave the EU this is priceless.

Germany is urging Brussels to allow members states to block exports of EU-made jabs - to ensure that the continent gets its "fair share".

[jonbxx]

Someone's going to be updating the List of medicines that cannot be exported from the UK or hoarded pretty sharpish!

Originally Posted by papa smurf

Given that they earlier suggested the drug would not be allowed to leave the EU this is priceless.

Germany is urging Brussels to allow members states to block exports of EU-made jabs - to ensure that the continent gets its "fair share".

The root of their problem is they hedged too much. A few doses here, a few doses there, across lots of different manufacturers. They also dithered, at least when it came to the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which they ordered three months later than the UK did. We moved faster, we made better decisions and we also were able to take advantage of world beating research from one of the best universities in the world, linking up highly promising, government sponsored work at Oxford with a world leading drug company headquartered in Cambridge, all of which enabled us to get production going quickly and at a fair price. We are reaping the benefits of political and economic power exercised at the appropriate level while the EU’s attempt to use vaccine procurement to prove they’re so over Brexit has now blown up in their sclerotic, bureaucratic faces.

Already this week we’ve had a badly briefed German hack trying to question the efficacy of the Ox-AZ vaccine, then the German government suggesting an export ban on vaccine made in the EU, and now a Greek Eurocrat demanding the export of vaccines contracted by the British government for use in the UK. What a mess.

[nomadking]

The UK paid for the development of the AZ vaccine. Without the UK it wouldn't be at the advanced stage of production. It is also made in the EU under contract and permission of Oxford, AZ,(and the UK?).

[heero_yuy]

Quote from The Sun:

Boris Johnson has extended England's lockdown for another three more weeks - and schools won't go back until March 8 at the earliest.

The PM admitted today that getting kids back to class was tied to the national restrictions - and that children will not be going back after February half-term as hoped.

The PM told Parliament this afternoon children would continue to learn remotely for another five weeks - and there was not yet enough data to decide when to lift the lockdown measures.

He said: "At this point, we do not have enough data to judge the full effect of vaccines in blocking transmission nor the extent and speed with which the vaccines will reduce hospitalisations and deaths, nor how quickly the combination of vaccinations and the lockdown can be expected to ease the pressure on the NHS."

The PM originally said the lockdown would be in place - and schools shut - until the middle of February but left the door open for it to be extended.

Not really a surprise with the virus still running rampant.