Not off hand, but I recall seeing it noted in both an English and a French story. The English I suspect was the Guardian. French I suspect was Radio-Canada, reporting on others reports.
Would there be a difference between a notice demanding they take it down, and a notice notifying them that it was a breach, i.e. of more significance and potentially not remedied by simple removal?
Yes, there are two separate elements. An insistence that it be remedied and secondly a reservation to seek damages. Those are hard to quantify in any event but impossible immediately. If AZ considered it to be a fundamental breach they would normally need to say that at the time (or very shortly afterwards) if they were considering repudiation.
Likely moot, AZ seems to be more focused on getting yields up and delivering more vaccines sooner.
Yes. Tbf to AZ I think that’s always been its focus and it could have done without the distractions from the EU’s attempts to falsely attribute wrongdoing.
I’m in one of the 8 postcode areas where there is the S.A variant. Door to door mass testing of 16yo+ tomorrow.
Damn. That variant scares me.
For the first time since March, I am thinking about stocking up on N95 grade masks. Had some in the house at the time (for sanding) and gave them to a neighbor who worked in a local ER, but until now have thought it would be best not to replace them as long as they might be a high demand item. Now I am checking.
Wow, the EU are doubling down
That would be a Mourinho-sized bus she is pushing that commissioner under.
Doubling down publicly, but notably silent about enforcement of the magical unicorn vanishing best endeavors clause.
A real chip off the old block.
Piers must be so proud of his son.
Why not ? Those 9 million doses, I am skeptical they would have been found without pressure.
‘Found’? That seems like an odd word choice.
Last week they fucked us over with a sudden, against all expectations, massive cut on doses despite the fact that AZ knew that states had began their roll out program and operated on a plan. They knew this, and then they drop this bomb so late ? In Norway we are chiefly pissed off at AZ for giving us this info so late, or or minister of health is anyway. Now, a week after, some extra nine million doses after the EU got angry. I think pressure may work a bit.
I am not in the “Aztra Zenica can do no wrong and have done no wrong” camp. Their communications have been a massive problem.
I rather expect that AZ advised what they could commit to deliver based on the current status of an organic production process that they were working to optimize, as they have done in several different locations now (UK yields took 3 months to reach stable optimum, apparently). I don’t the cell growth is responding to the pressure. AZ is more likely updating their committed amounts based on the basis of incremental improvements to yield. Maybe their public statement of that is a response to the pressure, where when that has occurred with Pfizer and Moderna, they have simply shipped a larger than planned quantity, though they too have started to struggle with ramp-up processes.
As for the idea that their communications have been a massive problem, the willingness of the EC to publicly misrepresent the content of the contract make me wonder if this is all quite the bombshell it is being portrayed as. It now seems very likely that informal communications beforehand were simply ignored so that a scapegoat outside Brussels could be easily identified for the public. The EU appears to have wanted a pretext to demand production from the UK, given they moved to that essentially immediately - unless that too was not as immediate as publicly portrayed.
Government here is getting torn to shreds in Parliament - EU and Belgium have offered verbal assurances that Pfizer shipments will not be disrupted, but have declined to add Canada to the exempt export control list.
South African variant observed in the Peel region, which has struggled all along to contain the virus, per capita one of the worst parts of the country.
So you think these 9 million doses that they did not expect to be there last week, is there now because the production process is 9 million doses better than expected last week ? I am skeptical of that.
As for your last paragraph, that is simply not true. In Norway it came as a shock, we knew nothing about AZ suddenly only finding that they could produce 30% of what they previously promised to do. They have given no info, what so ever, and I don’t for a second believe that Astra Zenica cam to the realisation only last week that they could only produce 60% less, because that makes no sense. Clearly, their communications are either horrific or they lie. They clearly knew that European states had begun the rollout program which is time scheduled. Yet they dropped the bomb last week knowing how important it is, how critical it is ? That makes no sense and is incredibly irresponsible for them to do. And yet on this forum, they get no criticism for it ? I am supposed to just take the word of the AZ CEO for it ? No, I would rather the EU pressure them if there is even a tiny chance we can get more of the life and economy saving vaccine.
Edit: Not true on the condition that the EU does not lie or hide critical information from member states and associated states, and I strongly doubt they do, or that AZ CEO would already have told the media how he had been warning for a long time that the EU would get far less vaccine than envisioned.
Also, some bad news from Norway. We have discovered an unidentified mutation, and I woke up to the happy discovery of Folkehelseinstituttet notifying us that they reckon it will no longer be possible to strike down the British mutation and that it will take over sooner rather than later.
I am pretty fed up.
Maybe news, maybe not. I don’t know if it is a serious mutation or not. But I google translated something now:
Mutation confusion at a nursing home in Bærum:
A new, mutated virus variant has been discovered at Stabæktunet nursing home in Bærum, where three corona-infected residents have died in recent days.
The health authorities currently have little knowledge of the variant.
On Sunday, a resident died of coronary heart disease at the nursing home. Since January 27, three residents have died of coronary heart disease there. All employees are now quickly tested before they can come to work, Budstikka writes.
The virus mutation detected in the nursing home is not the same as the British one. NIPH is now working on analyzing the variant. This is a lesser known subgroup of viruses.
Senior researcher and head of department at FHI, Olav Hungnes, has stated that it is the genetic variant B.1.1.102 that is behind the outbreak in Bærum in January. This has been seen in Viken and Oslo since late December, but has been common in many places in the world long before this.
According to Hungnes, there is nothing to suggest that there is anything special to notice with this subgroup of viruses.
If they were projecting output of ~55 million at target yield, and reduced that to ~32, on the basis of a projection a few weeks ago, an increase of 9 million doesn’t strike me as outlandish. The first (successful) round of adjustments to optimize will usually have the largest effect, the last 5-10% is the real chase.
As for it not being true, firstly, neither us can make that statement one way or another. Secondly, Norway is buying through the EC. The EC may have been advised about a slow ramp-up earlier than the formal statement - which the EC responded to almost immediately with a demand for UK doses. That now seems rather suspect.
As for who is being honest, well, look at the characterization of the contract language. AZ has simply stated what the contract states, allowed it to be published, and there isn’t a lawyer not taking an EU government paycheque who is disagreeing with them. Most of the reaction was outright shock. One party has been dishonest, you believe the other one might have been as well.
As far as I know, AZ is not privy to Pfizer’s or Moderna’s delivery schedules to the EU. The EU was preparing to roll out vaccines from several sources. Why would they not? It is rather odd that the Pfizer shortfall has attracted nowhere near the same attacks, despite a massive reduction in deliveries as well - albeit reduced at the expense of deliveries outside the EU to parties that themselves had vaccination initiatives underway. Seems very strange that somehow Pfizer’s contract allows for delivery uncertainty, and AZ’s does not.
The only real question I have is to what degree early production in Belgium was shipped out while waiting approval in the EU.