EU to restrict vaccines to UK?

Instead of relieving the tension it appears the EU are ratcheting it up even further tonight by attempting to effectively blackmail AZ into siphoning supplies from the UK into the EU.

German MEP Peter Liese apparently told Euronews earlier:

"I think the only consequence can be immediately stop the export of the biotech [Pfizer vaccine], and then we are in the middle of a trade war. So the company and the UK better think twice. We have to show our weapons... We need to tell to other companies in the world, if you treat the Europeans as second class, you will suffer for this."

Wow. 27 days in and European politicians are threatening trade wars and saying things like 'you will suffer...'.

The guy's a bit more circumspect on his website but it's still old-fashioned blackmail.

"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. The company cannot be interested in permanently damaging its reputation in the world's largest single market."

It's interesting there are no problems getting something from the UK into the EU when it suits. Maybe we should create an export 'transparency' system for vaccines or, even better, threaten to smuggle a ham sandwich or two somewhere in the containers.

 
It's not pathetic from both sides, it's pathetic from one side. We're not trying to stop Germans using vaccines they order and manufacture in Germany or Belgians using vaccines they order and manufacture in Belgium. They're trying to stop us using vaccines ordered by us and manufactured by us in this country.
Spectacularly missing the wider point. It's irrelevant all this squabbling in the wider scheme of things.
Instead of relieving the tension it appears the EU are ratcheting it up even further tonight by attempting to effectively blackmail AZ into siphoning supplies from the UK into the EU.

German MEP Peter Liese apparently told Euronews earlier:

"I think the only consequence can be immediately stop the export of the biotech [Pfizer vaccine], and then we are in the middle of a trade war. So the company and the UK better think twice. We have to show our weapons... We need to tell to other companies in the world, if you treat the Europeans as second class, you will suffer for this."

Wow. 27 days in and European politicians are threatening trade wars and saying things like 'you will suffer...'.

The guy's a bit more circumspect on his website but it's still old-fashioned blackmail.

"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. The company cannot be interested in permanently damaging its reputation in the world's largest single market."

It's interesting there are no problems getting something from the UK into the EU when it suits. Maybe we should create an export 'transparency' system for vaccines or, even better, threaten to smuggle a ham sandwich or two somewhere in the containers.

We were sending war ships in even before Brexit started.
Flotilla
 
Instead of relieving the tension it appears the EU are ratcheting it up even further tonight by attempting to effectively blackmail AZ into siphoning supplies from the UK into the EU.

German MEP Peter Liese apparently told Euronews earlier:

"I think the only consequence can be immediately stop the export of the biotech [Pfizer vaccine], and then we are in the middle of a trade war. So the company and the UK better think twice. We have to show our weapons... We need to tell to other companies in the world, if you treat the Europeans as second class, you will suffer for this."

Wow. 27 days in and European politicians are threatening trade wars and saying things like 'you will suffer...'.

The guy's a bit more circumspect on his website but it's still old-fashioned blackmail.

"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. The company cannot be interested in permanently damaging its reputation in the world's largest single market."

It's interesting there are no problems getting something from the UK into the EU when it suits. Maybe we should create an export 'transparency' system for vaccines or, even better, threaten to smuggle a ham sandwich or two somewhere in the containers.

The bloke sounds a right dangerous fuckwit!
 
Good read from the boss of AZ the bit that stuck out for me was-First of all, we believe that the efficacy of one dose is sufficient: 100 percent protection against severe disease and hospitalisation, and 71-73 percent of efficacy overall. The second dose is needed for long term protection. But you get a better efficiency if you get the 2nd dose later than earlier.
 
Instead of relieving the tension it appears the EU are ratcheting it up even further tonight by attempting to effectively blackmail AZ into siphoning supplies from the UK into the EU.

German MEP Peter Liese apparently told Euronews earlier:

"I think the only consequence can be immediately stop the export of the biotech [Pfizer vaccine], and then we are in the middle of a trade war. So the company and the UK better think twice. We have to show our weapons... We need to tell to other companies in the world, if you treat the Europeans as second class, you will suffer for this."

Wow. 27 days in and European politicians are threatening trade wars and saying things like 'you will suffer...'.

The guy's a bit more circumspect on his website but it's still old-fashioned blackmail.

"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. The company cannot be interested in permanently damaging its reputation in the world's largest single market."

It's interesting there are no problems getting something from the UK into the EU when it suits. Maybe we should create an export 'transparency' system for vaccines or, even better, threaten to smuggle a ham sandwich or two somewhere in the containers.

Shows what our once EU friends are really all about anti British.
Well stuff em all. 🇬🇧
 
Instead of relieving the tension it appears the EU are ratcheting it up even further tonight by attempting to effectively blackmail AZ into siphoning supplies from the UK into the EU.

German MEP Peter Liese apparently told Euronews earlier: "I think the only consequence can be immediately stop the export of the biotech [Pfizer vaccine], and then we are in the middle of a trade war. So the company and the UK better think twice. We have to show our weapons... We need to tell to other companies in the world, if you treat the Europeans as second class, you will suffer for this."
Wow! It sounds like a Nazi war film. Ve have vays of making you talk. You vill suffer for this.

Some true colours coming out now.

Meanwhile, German MEP Gunnar Beck said Britain’s successful vaccine scheme was a “nightmare” for Europe.
He said: “The bloc’s slow, dysfunctional approach has been a huge failure for the commission.
“It’s a nightmare for the EU that Britain’s vaccine scheme is working better than the EU’s.”
 
Remainers just can’t say a bad word against the EU even in the face of obvious wrong doing. Says a lot really. Under the circumstances why can’t you just say, yes they have made an arse of it, the UK had done something right.
 
Instead of relieving the tension it appears the EU are ratcheting it up even further tonight by attempting to effectively blackmail AZ into siphoning supplies from the UK into the EU.

German MEP Peter Liese apparently told Euronews earlier:

"I think the only consequence can be immediately stop the export of the biotech [Pfizer vaccine], and then we are in the middle of a trade war. So the company and the UK better think twice. We have to show our weapons... We need to tell to other companies in the world, if you treat the Europeans as second class, you will suffer for this."

Wow. 27 days in and European politicians are threatening trade wars and saying things like 'you will suffer...'.

The guy's a bit more circumspect on his website but it's still old-fashioned blackmail.

"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. The company cannot be interested in permanently damaging its reputation in the world's largest single market."

It's interesting there are no problems getting something from the UK into the EU when it suits. Maybe we should create an export 'transparency' system for vaccines or, even better, threaten to smuggle a ham sandwich or two somewhere in the containers.

Wow! This is a call to arms, not much different to the Trump call to march on Capitol Hill. If the Eu don’t take action against him, they’re condoning his words.
 
Remarkably looks like we might actually have the supplies to pass on

Maybe we should let them keep the more expensive Pfizer version

Britain has more than enough coronavirus vaccines for this year and could eventually donate them to other countries, senior industry sources told The Times last night.

They said that Britain had secured the doses needed to meet its targets and expected its deals with pharmaceutical companies to be honoured.

It came as Boris Johnson said that he was confident EU threats to disrupt supplies would fail. The bloc’s vaccination rate is lagging far behind Britain’s and Brussels has accused Astrazeneca, one of the biggest suppliers, of reneging on delivery agreements. It has called for supplies from the company’s British factories to be diverted to Europe.





It marks an escalation in a deepening post-Brexit conflict that has included German threats to block exports of Pfizer’s vaccine from its factory in Belgium to Britain. A senior German MEP warned that the stand-off was heading towards a “trade war”.


At a Downing Street press conference Mr Johnson sought to cool the war of words by insisting that manufacture must be a “great multinational effort”.





 
As I stated before.... the EU have made a complete bollox of this, but what really is driving them mad is the UK being a world leader....it's a nightmare for them.
UK being a world leader? It's a bit too early for that prediction, let's hope it's not hot on the tails of the world leading track and trace and world leading brexit negotiations....
 
EU leaders are desperate to blame someone for the mess that they have made of this procurement. AZ sound fairly confident of their position, I'm not sure that they would be so forthright if they were on the wrong side of the legal argument.
An interesting titbit I heard last night was that the UK government insisted that OU partnered a UK based company, the original preference of OU was Merck, a German based company. It would seem that our government actually had the foresight to see a situation like this arising as this decision was made to ensure manufacture was kept in the UK. It could be that the the government were thinking that borders may be completely closed at some point - anyway for whatever reason it was a good call.
Thankfully the UK government is keeping out of it, if what TAM says above is true, we may try to enter the fray at some point with an offer of help. I'm not sure how this would go down in the EU but perhaps could herald the advent of a period of EU / UK friendly cooperation.
 
EU leaders are desperate to blame someone for the mess that they have made of this procurement. AZ sound fairly confident of their position, I'm not sure that they would be so forthright if they were on the wrong side of the legal argument.
An interesting titbit I heard last night was that the UK government insisted that OU partnered a UK based company, the original preference of OU was Merck, a German based company. It would seem that our government actually had the foresight to see a situation like this arising as this decision was made to ensure manufacture was kept in the UK. It could be that the the government were thinking that borders may be completely closed at some point - anyway for whatever reason it was a good call.
Thankfully the UK government is keeping out of it, if what TAM says above is true, we may try to enter the fray at some point with an offer of help. I'm not sure how this would go down in the EU but perhaps could herald the advent of a period of EU / UK friendly cooperation.
Agree, but I can’t see the Eu welcoming the U.K. offering to help, I’m sure they would see that as humiliating.
 
Remainers just can’t say a bad word against the EU even in the face of obvious wrong doing. Says a lot really. Under the circumstances why can’t you just say, yes they have made an arse of it, the UK had done something right.
Some remainers want the U.K. to fail simply to prove them right, so they can’t stand the fact that we’re doing a great job with vaccinations and the Eu are in disarray.
 
Some remainers want the U.K. to fail simply to prove them right, so they can’t stand the fact that we’re doing a great job with vaccinations and the Eu are in disarray.
As you know, I was / am a remainer but I can see that the EU has handled this vaccine rollout abysmally.
I have always thought that the EU needed reform and having worked on a few EU science projects IME there was a tendency to over-bureaucracy in an attempt to counter fraudulent use of funding. Again, in this case of the vaccine rollout, it would seem that the centralised model is cumbersome when responding to an evolving crisis like this.
However, I have always been of the opinion that the benefits of membership outweigh the negatives. It is much better to be inside a civil talking shop than to be on the outside. This particular situation has potential to escalate into a trade war and whilst some on here would probably enjoy that it would be a damaging outcome for everyone.
 
Some remainers want the U.K. to fail simply to prove them right, so they can’t stand the fact that we’re doing a great job with vaccinations and the Eu are in disarray.
This fiasco really is showing the worst side of the EU and the difficulties in trying to get a common agreement across 27 member states who all have different political agendas. Germany and Italy were in advanced stages in agreeing separate contracts with AZ only for the EU to put a stop to it. This coupled with France pushing for their solution as a common vaccine across the EU members which is now delayed until later this year has led to this bun fight in the EU. It's clear that Germany are fuming, I'm sure others are quietly too, the French are staying tight lipped and the EU themselves are blaming everyone else. This does not bode well for the future of the EU.
 
An interesting piece from Health Europa, November 2020.

The European Commission has adopted a Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe which aims to ensure access to medicines and support innovation and sustainability in the industry.​


The Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe will be boosting competitiveness in the pharmaceutical industry and ensuring that patients in Europe have access to innovative and affordable medicines. The strategy will be a key component of strengthening Europe’s new Health Union and for creating a “future-proof” and crisis-resilient pharmaceutical system in Europe.


Lessons from COVID-19​


The strategy will take into account the COVID-19 pandemic, learning lessons from the crisis to ensure Europe’s pharma sector is resilient and prepared for times of crisis, and will support diversified and secure supply chains as well as promoting environmentally sustainable pharmaceuticals.


President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, stated: “The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the vital need to strengthen our health systems. This includes access to safe, effective, and high-quality medicines at an affordable price. In the challenging economic and social times the EU is currently facing, the strategy adopted today will ensure that Europe and Europeans will continue to benefit from such medicines. I call on Member States and the Parliament to endorse this approach which will be rolled out in the next three years, and beyond.”


The Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe will also ensure that EU policy continues to serve public health by supporting patient centred innovations and accommodating digital and technological change.


Stella Kyriakides, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety added: “… we launch the work to ensure that safe and effective medicines are accessible and affordable at all times and to all patients across the EU.


“With our Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe, we are delivering on our commitment to create a future-proof and patient-centred pharmaceutical environment in which the EU industry can innovate, flourish, and continue to be a global leader. It is our long-term vision for open strategic autonomy, and our response to the challenges of today and the vulnerabilities exposed by COVID-19. Today we put in place another pillar of the European Health Union.”

NB Nothing in this piece about threatening the UK and being behind it in procuring effective treatments for COVID.
 
As you know, I was / am a remainer but I can see that the EU has handled this vaccine rollout abysmally.
I have always thought that the EU needed reform and having worked on a few EU science projects IME there was a tendency to over-bureaucracy in an attempt to counter fraudulent use of funding. Again, in this case of the vaccine rollout, it would seem that the centralised model is cumbersome when responding to an evolving crisis like this.
However, I have always been of the opinion that the benefits of membership outweigh the negatives. It is much better to be inside a civil talking shop than to be on the outside. This particular situation has potential to escalate into a trade war and whilst some on here would probably enjoy that it would be a damaging outcome for everyone.
Brilliant balanced posting El. Refreshing to see.
 
An interesting piece from Health Europa, November 2020.

The European Commission has adopted a Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe which aims to ensure access to medicines and support innovation and sustainability in the industry.​


The Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe will be boosting competitiveness in the pharmaceutical industry and ensuring that patients in Europe have access to innovative and affordable medicines. The strategy will be a key component of strengthening Europe’s new Health Union and for creating a “future-proof” and crisis-resilient pharmaceutical system in Europe.


Lessons from COVID-19​


The strategy will take into account the COVID-19 pandemic, learning lessons from the crisis to ensure Europe’s pharma sector is resilient and prepared for times of crisis, and will support diversified and secure supply chains as well as promoting environmentally sustainable pharmaceuticals.


President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, stated: “The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the vital need to strengthen our health systems. This includes access to safe, effective, and high-quality medicines at an affordable price. In the challenging economic and social times the EU is currently facing, the strategy adopted today will ensure that Europe and Europeans will continue to benefit from such medicines. I call on Member States and the Parliament to endorse this approach which will be rolled out in the next three years, and beyond.”


The Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe will also ensure that EU policy continues to serve public health by supporting patient centred innovations and accommodating digital and technological change.


Stella Kyriakides, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety added: “… we launch the work to ensure that safe and effective medicines are accessible and affordable at all times and to all patients across the EU.


“With our Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe, we are delivering on our commitment to create a future-proof and patient-centred pharmaceutical environment in which the EU industry can innovate, flourish, and continue to be a global leader. It is our long-term vision for open strategic autonomy, and our response to the challenges of today and the vulnerabilities exposed by COVID-19. Today we put in place another pillar of the European Health Union.”

NB Nothing in this piece about threatening the UK and being behind it in procuring effective treatments for COVID.
Heads will roll in the EU soon driven by Germany because of this fiasco starting with Von der Leyen who Merkel pushed out of the Bundestag, quickly followed by Kyriakides.
 
This fiasco really is showing the worst side of the EU and the difficulties in trying to get a common agreement across 27 member states who all have different political agendas. Germany and Italy were in advanced stages in agreeing separate contracts with AZ only for the EU to put a stop to it. This coupled with France pushing for their solution as a common vaccine across the EU members which is now delayed until later this year has led to this bun fight in the EU. It's clear that Germany are fuming, I'm sure others are quietly too, the French are staying tight lipped and the EU themselves are blaming everyone else. This does not bode well for the future of the EU.

I don't believe the EU's problem in this case is getting common agreement across the 27. Most of the states have put their trust into the EU and are paying the price. At the request of the EC they have put all their eggs in one basket and the basket is full of holes. The main problem for the EU is that France has been humiliated by failing in its attempts to produce an effective vaccine and Germany has shown a level of incompetence not normally associated with that country, then compounded it by them trying to do a dodgy, illegal under the counter, unauthorised deal to buy more vaccines for themselves. Once again, small countries like Ireland have little say in the outcome.
 
Remarkably looks like we might actually have the supplies to pass on

Maybe we should let them keep the more expensive Pfizer version

Britain has more than enough coronavirus vaccines for this year and could eventually donate them to other countries, senior industry sources told The Times last night.

They said that Britain had secured the doses needed to meet its targets and expected its deals with pharmaceutical companies to be honoured.

It came as Boris Johnson said that he was confident EU threats to disrupt supplies would fail. The bloc’s vaccination rate is lagging far behind Britain’s and Brussels has accused Astrazeneca, one of the biggest suppliers, of reneging on delivery agreements. It has called for supplies from the company’s British factories to be diverted to Europe.





It marks an escalation in a deepening post-Brexit conflict that has included German threats to block exports of Pfizer’s vaccine from its factory in Belgium to Britain. A senior German MEP warned that the stand-off was heading towards a “trade war”.


At a Downing Street press conference Mr Johnson sought to cool the war of words by insisting that manufacture must be a “great multinational effort”.
Yes if surplus let them have the expensive one, but tell them to ensure the spirit of free trade is acted upon rather than finding ways to delay imports from UK especially perishables
 
As I stated before.... the EU have made a complete bollox of this, but what really is driving them mad is the UK being a world leader....it's a nightmare for them.

Remainers just can’t say a bad word against the EU even in the face of obvious wrong doing. Says a lot really. Under the circumstances why can’t you just say, yes they have made an arse of it, the UK had done something right.
spot on. Same with the China debate too. Of course it's all politically motivated with their blinkered hatred.
 
Germany has now announced a ban on adults aged over 65 receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine. The update to its vaccine recommendation is due to lack of sufficient data to recommend use in older age groups. The AZ vaccine has not yet been approved by the European Medicines Agency, which is expected to make a decision on Friday.

AstraZeneca's trial findings showed the jab was between 60 to 90 percent effective on its 11,636 test subjects. Earlier in the week German newspaper Handelsblatt claimed the AstraZeneca vaccine might only have an efficacy of about eight percent among those aged over 65. But experts strongly refuted the claims, with a University of Oxford spokesperson saying clinical trials showed similar immune responses in younger and older adults, a good safety profile and high efficacy in younger adults.

I assume that Germany will no longer need an urgent supply of the vaccine then, so can stop kicking up a fuss about deliveries and threatening that the UK will suffer if we don't supply them with UK produced vaccines.
 
Germany has now announced a ban on adults aged over 65 receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine. The update to its vaccine recommendation is due to lack of sufficient data to recommend use in older age groups. The AZ vaccine has not yet been approved by the European Medicines Agency, which is expected to make a decision on Friday.

AstraZeneca's trial findings showed the jab was between 60 to 90 percent effective on its 11,636 test subjects. Earlier in the week German newspaper Handelsblatt claimed the AstraZeneca vaccine might only have an efficacy of about eight percent among those aged over 65. But experts strongly refuted the claims, with a University of Oxford spokesperson saying clinical trials showed similar immune responses in younger and older adults, a good safety profile and high efficacy in younger adults.

I assume that Germany will no longer need an urgent supply of the vaccine then, so can stop kicking up a fuss about deliveries and threatening that the UK will suffer if we don't supply them with UK produced vaccines.
Pressure off then...
 
The EU seem all at sea with this

Let’s remember they haven’t even licensed the OU-AZ vaccine yet

Equally it wouldn’t sit well with me to stockpile if we have surplus supplies and the means of production under our control
Looking at it from a purely contractual point of view, if you sign a contract with a supplier, and you recognise that there might be production issues and so include a ‘best efforts’ clause, surely there will be definitions of what this means within the contract. The supplier then says they can’t supply as originally intended, but they still have to demonstrate that they’re undertaking their ‘best efforts’ to deliver. It seems to me that the EU don’t believe AZ in this respect and are saying ‘you have try your best to achieve our targets and can’t prioritise others above us’. They seem to believe that the UK is being favoured.
 
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