AZ - EU contract published

[Davros]

Breaking news on BBC

@rossclare yes judging by how quickly we passed the others I am sure it wont be too long , then normally couple weeks for production etc.

Only slightly more than the UK, despite having several times the population.

more solidarity then

"I think that a lot of countries will decide to leave the EU"

There is just no evidence for that at all.

@Waspnest

Our leftovers need to go to poorer countries who cannot afford them themselves. I'm sure the EU can afford their own.

That would be my first choice too.

Well, now there is a temporary border perhaps the UK can resume shipments of supplies to part of its own territory without having to declare it!!!

Thanks damn

I’d love to know what the rest of the world think of it all.

I don’t think EU countries will leave

The less wealthy ones need the support and Germany probably enjoys the central role

@donewithitalltodayandxmas maybe not seeing it at the moment - if you read the piece in El Pais (you can read English translation of their newspaper on line) they know it's the EU that have cocked up. I should imagine the Italians will have a good idea.

The rest of them will become aware when it dies down because at the moment they're witnessing a massive hissy fit by their Commission and can't see past it. Once things do settle down in time, history will show them for what they are - out in the open having exposed to all and sundry and who would trust a trading bloc who retrospectively wish to rewrite a contract. no-one.

In all honesty is anyone even vaguely surprised??

I actually am ☹️

@Floppywin thanks will have a read

I linked to it earlier on the thread so may be able to find it easier that way as lots of articles on there etc.

As much as richer nations need to support poorer ones (without a doubt), there is a case for this: if densely populated Europe is not vaccinated enough in numbers, virus mutations will occur which might make the vaccines we have now obsolete. As our closest neighbours, new mutations will spread fast. Europe, indeed, the world needs to be vaccinated.

Re leftovers going to poor countries, yes, and the AZ is very practical for such purposes - it doesn’t need super-freezers, and I read that the price per dose is around £3 as against £15 for the Pfizer.

That covax table and what has been achieved with the Vaccine, gives me a little swell of pride to be British.

@OppsUpsSide

I’d love to know what the rest of the world think of it all.

I had a look on CNN (deliberately chosenon my part as left-leaning, pro EU, anti-Brexit - I mean, if you went and looked at Fox it wouldn't tell you much as they're already "The EU is the anti-christ and commie bastards too, yes both at once") and was interested to see that they seemed to be pretty much taking the line that the CEO of Astra zeneca was in the right. Sadly don't have a sub to the Washington Post any more.

What's puzzling me is that the EU are stamping their feet at the UK, but assuming AstraZeneca are telling the truth, the supply problems are the result of issues in Belgium and the Netherlands - two EU member states. Why not put their efforts into sorting those out ASAP instead of shouting 'snot fair.

Because the Belgium factory may well take time to sort.

They can stomp their foot now

Arlene Foster, First Minister of Northern Ireland, has expressed her disbelief and disgust that the EU has imposed a hard border in Ireland. It spent four years obstructing a Brexit deal ostensibly for this reason and preaching that a hard border was simply unthinkable!

The hypocrisy is staggering.
Apparently the Irish Taoiseach is now 'concerned'.

From the BBC:

(Arlene Foster): "With the European Union using Article 16 in such an aggressive and most shameful way, it is now time for our Government to step up.

"I will be urging the prime minister to act and use robust measures including Article 16 to advance the interests of Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom."

.... Alliance Party leader Naomi Long said what was needed was "maximum co-operation" not "this obstructive behaviour" from the EU."

The Frankfurter Allgemeine is whipping up some frenzy with an article entitled "The Brits are hacked off with the Germans" (my loose translation) which is a bit mystifying because I think we are all fairly clear that it's the Commission that is to blame, not the Germans. It's always and only ever been the Commission.

The Eu are stamping their feet at AZ, not at the UK. They invested hugely upfront and AZ are now saying they can't deliver what they promised. The UK media seem to be inciting war!

So of this was a reverse what do we all think the EU would be saying right now to the UK??

Their behaviour has serious consequences which will extend beyond the pandemic,vaccine issues and national borders. I'd suggest they are now cultivating quite a dangerous and volatile situation. I'm no longer simply aghast at what they are doing I'm quite worried about how this might escalate. My sympathy for ordinary people remains but my contempt for the action on the EU Commission grows by the minute. They have lost their minds

Totally agree with all of this - god knows how this'll end up

Massive respect too for the many who've been honest enough to say they've changed their minds about leaving the EU. It takes integrity to change a position in light of developing events and it's refreshing to see

@SushiSoozie

And for that matter, the UK has spent 4 years shouting fuck the lot of you at the EU. It's time to wake up and realise you have no friends left.

Boris has done a great PR job on you lot. Bought up a load of vaccines are you forget about every other terrible thing they've done, its genius in one way. Relies on the gullibility of the British public, but then half of them fell for the NHS bus and all the Brexit lies, so not hard.

No friends left? Lol, Omg, how old are you?

Imagine blaming the U.K. for the EU signing a shit contract, 3 months too late

@TheresWaldo

The Eu are stamping their feet at AZ, not at the UK. They invested hugely upfront and AZ are now saying they can't deliver what they promised. The UK media seem to be inciting war!

The U.K. media? How?

The outburst is from EC and German MEPs who say we should ‘suffer’

You can’t conclude what you have given the contracts

It may well be yield in EU facility hasn’t delivered