Sure. Were these doses supplied by AZ to the US to as part of a US order or is this like the EU and these were AZ doses manufactured in the US but not necessarily belonging to the US that the US has sequestered?
One of the few things you can credit the Trump admin on over this is that they signed pre-approval contracts with all of the major candidates as early as last summer. The AZ case is strange because you wouldn’t ordinarily see scaled up manufacturing begin before approval had been granted, but you’d understand why a US plant would be manufacturing it. These specific doses have repeatedly been referred to as a Federal Government stockpile. The reporting on this is iffy, but it’s difficult to reconcile that with anything other than them having fulfilled their contract with their customer.
Also, as difficult to defend as it is for the Biden Administration to hold on to tens of millions of doses of a product we may never use when it is a key player in other markets, it is even harder to justify keeping these in America if they didnt actually belong to the Federal government.
So the “deal” would be that the EU “let us” have our own vaccines that are currently in the EU and in return we send them part of our vaccines we have in the UK.
Im not going to get into the right or wrongs of that, but the difference is we are not using AZ.
Vaccine nationalism is a complex issue with no right answer, but there is very definitely a wrong answer for what to do with doses made in your country that are not yours, your country has not approved for use, and possibly never will approve for us.
Pretty sure that this was already happening? Certainly 180m doses of Novavax are being manufactured in the North East (Middlesbrough) so perhaps the further update is to confirm that the whole process (including finish and fill) will also be happening there rather than risk the doses going abroad and not coming back?
Well, maybe you can edit/revise the article as you wish and post it and if i read it i’ll give you an opinion. In the meantime the article i read was (IMO) a cool headed article.
Your opinion wouldn’t be balanced though. Apparently to commend the UK for providing the world with the most accessible, most widely produced and most affordable vaccine is nationalistic.
It does. The problem with no flights abroad and the fact that no one has been anywhere of note for best part of a year maybe they’ll all come at once. It’ll be the same as last Summer as people ignored what ever farcical tier system or lock down was in place and descended on the Welsh Mountains and beaches like a plague. Pun intended.
Pretty sure these people should n’t have been where they were last Friday as we hadn’t officially opened up to more travel at that point either. But came they did and instead of hunkering down in their caravans they went shopping. (the chip shop)
Is GSK even involved in any of the current authorised coronavirus vaccines?
Seriously, the EU has lost its collective mind.
Apparently the article confirms…
“The incident comes as the EU threatens to halt vaccine exports if their manufacturers don’t deliver the doses pledged to the 27-nation bloc’s immunization campaign. Glaxo doesn’t produce any approved vaccines for Covid-19”
Time for all major pharma to get the fuck out of the EU.
I can’t help looking at this situation and just seeing the whole thing as a complete tragedy.
For Brexit supporters, it’s an example of the EU at it’s absolute worst. Petty, vindictive, and guilty of weaponised bureaucracy. Overreaching, ignorance of law and due process, and more than a hint of corruption about the whole affair.
For Remainers like me, it’s an example of the kind of tit for tat trade war that is likely when countries abandon the idea of closer ties and working together for the common good.
For everyone it’s is another nail in the coffin of any kind of decency in the corporate sphere. AZ committed itself to making this vaccine at cost and trying to do the right thing for humanity. It was an incredible gesture that they had no obligation to make. And in return, because of problems with the supply side, or rather an ignorance of contract law and the nature of large scale vaccine supply from certain leader they have been dragged through the shit.
Mind you, in the long term this is going to harm the EU, I’m sure about that.