A really interesting, calm interview with the head of AstraZeneca

[HelloThereMeHearties]

This is really worth reading, to shed some light on the whole sorry EU vaccine mess. It's in English.

Also really interesting about the mechanics of vaccine rollout.

www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2021/01/26/news/interview_pascal_soriot_ceo_astrazeneca_coronavirus_covid_vaccines-284349628/

The original article is whstvi mean, in case I wasn't clear. Other articles referenced in posts all showing as clicks links. Not sure if my phone or a site problem.

@Queenelsarules

This article isn't showing as a clicky link for me, can anyone signpost me to where I can find it please?

Does this work?

www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2021/01/26/news/interview_pascal_soriot_ceo_astrazeneca_coronavirus_covid_vaccines-284349628/

I wonder why has it started all this fight against az when Pfizer did the same thing and the factory is in Belgium !! So they only care about being short and suing az?

I’m Spanish and despite their vaccinating quite a lot (using most of the vaccines they’re being provided) i can’t stop thinking this is going so slow .... and Spain is one of the ones vaccinating the most. France only has got 1.6/100 vaccinated ... they’re barely using the ones they’ve !

It makes the EU look pretty ineffective when it matters most. It’s sad.

On another thread, I said I give the government credit for a very good vaccine rollout and strategy. I was scoffed at. They’ve struggled with other stuff, but I think it’s only fair to give them credit on this.

Fascinating

I think our supply of Pfizer is slowing down while Pfizer reorganised their supply chain set up for Europe. We aren’t jumping up and down threatening to sue.

I wonder why has it started all this fight against az when Pfizer did the same thing and the factory is in Belgium !! So they only care about being short and suing az?

I think, @EasterIssland, that the EU is looking for anyone to blame but itself. And Britain is a convenient baddie for them.

It also must really, really sting that Britain is the country that is a) doing an effective vaccine rollout, b) the inventor of one of the vaccines (Macron especially won't like that, as the French one has just gone kaput), and c) somehow managing to do this "despite Brexit".

I mean, I don't want to get all Brexity about this, but that is an obvious undercurrent.

von der Leyen can threaten to "monitor" what she likes, but AZ hasn't broken any contracts and soon people will see what's really going on.

It should be remembered that Zeneca was formed in the early 90s from the pharmaceutical arm of ICI, a leading British chemical company.

This is the same man that claimed in December that they’d struck on the magic formula and that their vaccine now has 95% efficacy.

Grain of salt, just saying. And I thought his response to the efficacy in the elderly Q was very sketchy. “We’ve got a bunch more data on that but I can’t remember the number.” But hey don’t forget confidence intervals can be very wide. (Which suggests he knows the numbers very well) 🙄

I liked imagining the big bats of cells making vaccine

*vats

Thank you for posting, really interesting.

The scientists have been amazing I think, the volunteers for the trials too. I think that some politicians are point scoring, ours included, and it's a shame, but emotions are running high I guess.

Still can't see article, no idea why, it just shows up as click here in black instead of blue and does not do anything. Strange.

Sorry about that @Queenelsarules, I put the brackets around it and everything.

Here is the Editorial from the (generally pro-EU) FT today:

Vaccine protectionism by the EU will backfire

www.ft.com/content/044ef5c8-d07e-47df-9264-769457130991

The problem the EU had was if each of the 27 had gone about procurement individually youd now be having the EU - UK spat but between every one of the 27. You would have everyone competing against each other trying to get priority above each country. So the EU said, for the sake of sanity and harmony we need to work together. Which was right. Then they dragged their feet and fucked it up. The net result is a lot of tension and frustration magnified by the uk having ministers almost going out their way to go 'na na naa na naaaa' with thumb on nose waggling fingers. And the EU have lost the plot over it.

The UK haven't actually done anything wrong by the look of it (apart from behave like ungracious gloating twats trying to deliberately wind people up). Neither have AZ

The EU is now trying to deal (without much success) with internal unrest because of the mistakes.

The UK haven't actually done anything wrong by the look of it (apart from behave like ungracious gloating twats trying to deliberately wind people up)

How have we done that?

The EU didn't have to start blaming us. They chose to. They started threatening to sue AZ, and ban Pfizer exports, etc etc, and now they look worse than if they'd just tried to deal with their problems.

Matt Hancock has made a few crass (and ill judged) remarks.

Matt Hancock isn't 'the UK'.

Hes the bloody health minister. He represents the uk and responsible for our vaccine programme. He does not have to 'be the uk' if hes in a key position representing the country. Its grossly undiplomatic.

What has Matt Hancock said?

Also haven't some eu countries bought extra on top of joint eu ones ?

Matt Hancock has made a few crass (and ill judged) remarks.

@RedToothBrush such as?

The "copes" I'm seeing from some very very pro EU people to justify the glacial pace of the European rollout are getting embarrassing.*

Agreed.

Hancock boasted that the UK had just vaccinated more people in 3 days than France had since the start of the pandemic.

It was very childish and not professional.

Also Sturgeon boasted how much vaccine we had stocked up.

Which was equally stupid and probably wound up the EU even more.

Ultimately people are rioting about lockdowns and blaming their governments for lack of vaccine planning in the EU. Having a good excuse like the UK and AZ are to blame is convenient for them. Not true but this is politics.