Can anyone now confirm how the EU are proposing to stop any vaccines going from Ireland to NI following its use of Article 16? Will the EU be erecting border infrastructure? 
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I’m not sure of the significance of Northern Ireland in this. If the EU puts a ban on Pfizer exporting additional stock to the UK, then none will be exported to the UK. Last I checked Northern Ireland was part of the UK. If stock is to be delivered to the islands of Ireland, then it will be going to ROI. ROI isnt exactly going to sell its stock to NI is it? The vaccines are not being sold from private company to private consumer. They are being sold to governments.
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Now I truly feel part of the community !
Ah, that would make sense indeed. The progressive relaxation of restrictions leads to more people exposing and infecting themselves, and thus, to a still high amount of hospitalisations.
However, if they keep their initial pace, the vast majority of their population will be vaccinated soon, and then their problems should come to an end. In theory.
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I wonder if the flow won’t be of vaccines, but of Northern Irish to the Republic?
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Their President seems remarkably calm considering the wide range of accusations hurled his way. They already have widely distributed manufacturing, so teething problems aside, they are likely to largely supply markets from proximate factories.
The pressure on Pfizer, however, is going to be enormous. I believe they manufacture in just two locations right now. The US is making none available to any other market, and the EU is clearly asking the question why they should be any different.
Macron’s interpretation simply isn’t correct. The confidence intervals render the over-65 findings useless. With just 1 case in each bucket, the effectiveness cannot be established. Neither can ineffectiveness.
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Macron’s comments both incorrect and even more damaging than the false briefings from Germany a few days ago.
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Think yourself lucky you live in a country where governments fall for gross incompetence. In the UK we dream of such a state of affairs.
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Not quickly - but we are in a minority government situation, so it is more likely sooner.
If that’s true then why the need for the EU to invoke Article 16 at all then?
EU we see you 
What the UK did was not protectionism.
If you pay to develop something from concept to product it is perfectly reasonable to have priority for first initial orders.
The UK bet big on AstraZeneca/Oxford. It’s development was with the intent on being available to poorer countries. It was quite a noble thing by AstraZeneca. It was a big gamble that paid off (by both UK and AstraZeneca)
The contrast with the EU. They did not bet big on AstraZeneca. They instead did a spread bet. Betting on multiple companies. They waited till they the end of the development curve before putting in an order.
So put that in the context of today. Having bet on half a dozen vaccines, and approved moderna and Pfizer vaccines, because the non profit (to be approved) AZ can’t deliver orders due to issues in EU factories. The EU has thrown its toys out of the pram. That is not equivalence to UK paying to develop the vaccine and wishing priority on initial orders.
The EU let others take the risk, they spread bet. Yet want priority. Not only that are now using mechanisms to ensure they have priority for all countries to the disadvantage of others (Canada, Australia, NZ and many poor countries). Not just for the AZ vaccine but, the half dozen the bet on.
The bad guys in this are the EU. I say this as someone who was a strong remainer and believe in the EU project.
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Pretty staggering, the EC now has competing statements out denying they did it, defending the necessity of it, and saying they probably won’t do it. Published, then pulled down, and issued denials that it had ever been, but did not coordinate those.
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Yup, regardless of whether they now go through with it they’ve shown their hand. Outrageous but not that surprising.
You only need to read the replies to all these tweets about the situation
The level of shock in Ireland is remarkable. From assurances that it would be used only in extremis to invoked with no consultation at the first hurdle, all before the ink was dry on the assurances.
I wonder now when the next scheduled shipment of Pfizer to the UK (or anyone else not on the exempt list, but especially the UK) is - that would not appear to be an imminent crisis.
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No. 10 is already making its position VERY clear.
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An ‘oversight’…right. Like the ‘oversight’ that had the Soviets shipping ballistic missiles to Cuba in 1962.
Mistake? yeah, well, obviously. If not a single member state was ready to defend it publicly, possibly not even aware of it, that would definitely be a mistake.
I don’t really see how Von Der Layden can survive a week this disastrous, but a change would be unprecedented. With the possibility of a third wave looming, the whole damn world is headed in the wrong direction.
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This is key because as I understand it, every single vaccine company is struggling and significantly missing order targets.