Yep, it seems AZ were also telling the truth after inspections by Belgium authorities. Shortage of raw materials and production issues.
when asked if the Belgian, authorities intend to carry out stringent checks on the two companies’ production facilities here Mr De Croo said “As a government we have an important role in pre-financing the development of vaccines so there must be clarity. We have already received clarity from Pfizer, this proved more difficult with AstraZeneca, but we now have an explanation. AstraZeneca pointed to production issues at Seneffe. The Federal Medicines and Health Products Agency (FAGG) has together with its European partners carried out checks at the site”.
The inspectors found that there are indeed production issues at the Seneffe factory. "It appears that there is a shortage of the raw materials needed to make the vaccines. The analysis of the situation there is still ongoing. Is it a typical production problem caused by having to very greatly increase production in a short time or is the problem due to others having been given precedence?”, Mr De Croo said.
I expect tomorrow morning will be interesting in Brussels. It appears that the EU’s publication of the unredacted contract without AZ’s consent, unintentional though it may be, is a violation of the confidentiality clause and would allow AZ to cancel the contract and claim damages. AZ served notice accordingly.
Nothing like going into a negotiation waving a saber, but with your pants around your ankles.
Sometimes behaviour tells you all you need to know who has a strong legal case.
If your are in a strong position you don’t need to shout, jump up and down. Disparage the other party. All you need to do sit back with a smile and push the contract across the table.
I once saw a high priced lawyer in a meeting be be devastating with a highlighter.
Where has this been reported? I can’t find any reference to it. Some reports saying Germany and France are considering legal action against the European Commission AstraZeneca.
Hubby taken into hospital 3 weeks ago after fall, fractured pelvis.
Sent him home 3 days later as nothing they could do about it, warning him he had been in contact with Covid on the ward.
6 days later I felt so ill I just wanted to die, couldn’t eat, could barely stand, but had to tend to himself (shower, shave, dress etc.). In end called for help, and was found to have Covid - both of us. No help offered, just told to self isolate.
Today, 12lbs lighter, still very shakey, but no other symptoms, we are classed as clear of contagion.
We are both mid 70’s , at serious risk, I have COPD, he has Parkinsons, but we have come through. Now we have to wait 28 days before we can have the vaccine, but we both know how dammed lucky we are not to have become another fatal statistic.
Drink loads of water, open all windows, force yourself to eat something, anything and try to keep moving.
Wow. Glad to hear you came through it ok. Sounds like a really rough experience, and frightening!
It had crossed my mind that the UK should use the nightingale hospitals as the first port of call for Covid patients, basically doing everything possible to keep it out of the normal hospitals. Massive staffing issues etc. but i think there is a good logic to it.
Yes, that was what was intended, wasn’t it? Staffing being the spanner in the works.
What I was surprised to hear the other week was that more people were on mechanical ventilation than at any other time during the pandemic. As far as I recall, the learning around effective treatments had reduced the proportion of cases needing mechanical ventilation so if we were hitting record usage the overall hospitalisation numbers must be dire indeed. Mechanical ventilation was supposed to be the primary utility provided by the nightingale hospitals, wasn’t it?
I also have a feeling that the prognosis for anyone put on mechanical ventilation was particularly poor. I can’t remember the survival rate but I think it was less than 10%. Will see if I can find it later and whether that’s improved over time.
I’m not so sure as many were empty I believe while ICU’s were heavily occupied with COVID patients. I thought they were there as an over flow, adding more capacity but even that’s not being used now either as there are many patients in wards other than the ICU.
I couldn’t say why that was other than staffing and perhaps equipment. Of course we don’t want to drift into why that is such an acute issue in the UK.
Disturbing to hear what you’re saying on the ventilation though, but it does back up a theory on teh numbers reporting that the second spike is worse than the first.
Yes, I don’t think the nightingale hospitals are being utilised much but I think that’s more to do with the issues of staffing resources than equipment. The majority of the medical staff are already having to deal with the covid cases, regardless of whether that would normally fall within their usual discipline.
Probably right but there was a ventilator shortage early on. That appears to have subsided as has the PPE issue.
Perfect world I guess they should have been used but there’s obviously enormous challenges in achieving that. It would have required some warning of an impending pandemic for starters
I’ll chalk that up as a missed opportunity I think.
One case reported in Perth Friday night. The whole city ordered into a 5 day lock down immediately. Also anyone that visited a list of certain places over a period of time has been ordered to get a Covid test. Basically everywhere that the poor chap has visited in the last 2 weeks I think.
The notice, or the confidentiality clause? The confidentiality clause can be read on the non-redacted version which is now floating around the intertubes. The notice reported on Friday, without much fanfare - I don’t think AZ has taken any kind of position, just notified the EC of their breach.
Cancelling the contract and claiming damages was speculation in a conversation - I don’t think it is likely.
I am shocked that they aren’t do something like that - that was one of the key lessons from SARS. Most countries are doing that, one of the few things that Canada’s mediocre response has got right. A local hospital here has been operating a nearby hospital as a ward to keep non-covid patients as far away from the covid stream as possible.
The US data shows that patients have been moved to ventilators later, as other options have been developed, which would lead you to expect that ventilator use would be even more strongly correlated to death - but it doesn’t appear to be. I think the early ventilator panic was very much a function of completely overwhelmed medical systems in Lombardy and NY having no real idea of what to with serious cases.
I think the obvious answer is we should be, along with a whole host of other stuff as well.
They’ve done incredibly well to create the deepest recession in many if not all the worlds major economies along with achieving one of the highest death rates. Takes some doing that
Yes, I’ve read the unredacted parts of the contract (to the extent that they’re visible in the bookmarks) but I wasn’t aware that AZ had notified the EC they considered the (inadvertent) publication of parts of the APA to be in breach of their confidentiality obligations - do you remember where you read this?
