Coronavirus (2021) thread

Status
Not open for further replies.
Gabriel said:
Not sure they’re prohibited. Bilateral deals certainly violate the spirit of the alliance purchasing agreement, but countries are still free to order more from suppliers. I think it’s on the condition that the Alliance is supplied first. Doesn’t make much difference when there aren’t any to go around, mind.
Click to expand...

The EU are currently investigating it because Germany made the deal while threatening the other member states that no bilateral deals were allowed.
 
roubaixtuesday said:
Sure, but those countries can slap on an emergency export ban if they want.

I'm not saying that they would be right to, just that there is an absolute imperative to cooperate here. Both ethically and pragmatically.
Click to expand...
We should just park a couple of Chenooks on the car park to bring ours back... treat it like a Black Friday sale at Curry’s!!
 
squirtyflower said:
Indeed.
I think, adding insult to injury, the Merck vaccine has been shelved.
Click to expand...
Strange that. When we were all waiting for vaccines, we were told there was little chance of the first candidates working, and to wait for later ones, yet the first three were approved, and now companies that have received millions are closing their programmes.
 
domalino said:
Are you sure? Because the Germans think it is. Peter Liese of Germany's Christian Democratic Union -

"The flimsy justification that there are difficulties in the EU supply chain but not elsewhere does not hold water, as it is of course no problem to get the vaccine from the UK to the continent," he said.
Click to expand...
I’ve read that the initial vaccine is being produced in the Netherlands and, oh oh, Germany.
However the UK is intending to make the vast majority of its own vaccine.
 
squirtyflower said:
I’ve read that the initial vaccine is being produced in the Netherlands and, oh oh, Germany.
However the UK is intending to make the vast majority of its own vaccine.
Click to expand...

Astrazeneca has presence in 100 countries all over the world so I'm sure manufacturing is completely spread out. Some is being made here, I guess it's all about how much.
 
roubaixtuesday said:
I don't claim to know what's going on here.

The only thing I do know is that leak to the German press is reprehensible, and we need to agree with the EU a way forward acceptable to everyone.

Otherwise we're all screwed.
Click to expand...
No, the only way forward is what is the law. Goodness how many times have we been told that the last five years?
Withholding paid for goods, stealing or impounding goods not belonging to them and threatening and blackmailing people isn’t right, especially when it’s done by a huge bloc who were too slow to get things sorted so start to throw their weight around.
That’s also reprehensible.
 
domalino said:
How do their threatening to ban the exports of vaccine to the UK impact the UK?

Does that really need explaining?
Click to expand...
Err, slight brain fade there. But it's just a threat at the moment.

TBH, there were already many existing rumours about supply in the coming two months.

2m AZ a week was mooted for this period, I don't recall reading anything about anything beyond that. Pfizer are retooling which will hamper supply for some time. It always looked like crunch time.

Honestly though, where do you think the bulk of supply is going right now? It's certainly not Germany.

We can sabre rattle all we like and call the Germans moral degenerates. It doesn't really matter. Without a global agreement, or us being in the EU, the Germany and EU legal frameworks are always possible barriers. Supply was always dependant on that.

Personally, I don't have much time for us rattling the nationalist sabre when it suits us and then crying foul when being on our own hurts us. Or examples of optimism that didn't deliver for some reason. We have lawyers, diplomats and other clever people to wargame and point out where things can go wrong.

I thought there was a manic air to this thread earlier on, and now I think I got it.

But yeah, fuck Germany! Right? Fuck the EU. Fuck Sturgeon. All making our life difficult.

Cmon. This is what happens in the big wide world when you set yourself up as independent and taking no prisoners. Rip up agreements and burn goodwill, and you inevitably free up the other parties.

Little sympathy here for the fat one or his supporters. I believe the phrase is 'Get it done'.

Deliver. Or don't. Just don't waste my time moralising. That's how people end up accepting less. Results talk, the rest is worthless.
 
domalino said:
Astrazeneca has presence in 100 countries all over the world so I'm sure manufacturing is completely spread out. Some is being made here, I guess it's all about how much.
Click to expand...

I think AZ only have one manufacturing site in the UK at Macclesfield. It's big for the UK, but produces lots of things and may not have the kit for the vaccine.
 
domalino said:
Astrazeneca has presence in 100 countries all over the world so I'm sure manufacturing is completely spread out. Some is being made here, I guess it's all about how much.
Click to expand...
Pretty sure a lot of it is being manufactured in India, and we (might be the wrong word) are supplying a lot to India.
MillionMilesAway said:
I think AZ only have one manufacturing site in the UK at Macclesfield.
Click to expand...
Didn't they protect a site in Wrexham from flooding late last week, don't know if that is a production site or just distribution ?
 
Sad to see the sentiment of this thread going down the drain
based on semi information, pure speculation and good portion of nationalist pub talk. Surely I'm missing the irony once again :-/

I prefer waiting for the EMA decision on AZ/Oxford approval next Friday. EU countries have based their vaccination strategies on those deliveries. Limitations of delivery or age group restrictions would be causing short term trouble and put many politicians under huge pressure. No wonder some are losing their nerves and media catch a story. Let's keep cool and fight that virus together, so can you please hold back your Lancasters for a while or at least miss out Hamburg?

Btw, covid vaccine production sites, storage and delivery times are restricted details BM hopefully won't find out...
 
Last edited:
squirtyflower said:
No, the only way forward is what is the law. Goodness how many times have we been told that the last five years?
Withholding paid for goods, stealing or impounding goods not belonging to them and threatening and blackmailing people isn’t right, especially when it’s done by a huge bloc who were too slow to get things sorted so start to throw their weight around.
That’s also reprehensible.
Click to expand...
No none of that is right if the EU went down that path. Also, it’s very unhelpful if there are AZ employees who are gloating that vaccinations earmarked for the EU are being allocated to the U.K. it undermines our Government’s attempts to keep information on our vaccine supplies private to protect our people,. It could also provoke the EU in to doing something rash.
 
Can’t see full article but...

‘The European Union has told Pfizer and other drug companies that they must secure its permission before exporting vaccine doses to Britain amid concerns about the level of supply.’

www.thetimes.co.uk

Warn us before Covid vaccines go to Britain, EU tells Pfizer

The European Union has told Pfizer and other drug companies that they must secure its permission before exporting vaccine doses to Britain amid concerns about the level of supply.Brussels announced
www.thetimes.co.uk www.thetimes.co.uk
 
unicorn said:
Yep, production (must admit I thought it was just the glass vialls they made).

Oxford Covid vaccine factory at risk of flooding from Storm Christoph | Metro News
Click to expand...

And @cleavers
I'm not certain of that, but I don't think that is much more than a bottling site. I think they have a filling line there which is being used.

Wockhardt are a generics company, and it seems unlikely to me that AZ would use just one generics site to make the vaccine, given the focus on Belgian exports. If the vaccine itself was made by a generics company, I would expect there to be more than one being used.

(edit: see also messages in the next 10 below for more thoughts)
 
Last edited:
Addenda to the above:
Zahawi has just said that the majority of AZ for the UK is made here. I trust he's meaning from scratch - both drug and bottling - and may undermine my previous comment.

Is that at odds with the row about supply from Europe yesterday?

(edit: see also messages in the next 10 below for more thoughts)
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top