Can anyone quickly sum up what the EU dispute all about?

[2boysand1princess]

I’ve been so busy recently with wfh, homeschooling 2 primary kids and looking after a baby etc that I’ve not been keep up to date with the news. What’s the dispute over the vaccines and EU all about? Is there an obstacle for us getting the Oxford vaccine into the county now? If so why?
Thanks

Glad you asked this. I’ve read snippets about contracts being released etc but can’t piece it together either.

Oxford is made here so no issue getting it in the country.
However EU is pissed off because Az is no longer able to given them what they were expecting in q1 due to production delays at their plant in Belgium. Does not affect our order as we ordered 3 months before they did. But EU are now saying even though there are delays in Belgium Az should fulfil order by other means which to them probably means diverting the UK supply. But of course Az has contract with us too. We are not obliged to help until our priority groups are sorted at least.

Eu increasingly pissed off and might try and divert some Pfizer supplies destined for UK to the Eu. However truth is both Eu and UK depend on the other for components for both vaccines so everyone’s hoping Cool heads prevail and we don’t fall out.

At the end of the day though Uk was far more organised with its vaccine order. EU dithered for months which is partly why it is so behind now. Eu’s beef is with Az not the Uk government (yet)

To be clear Oxford vaccine is made by Az.

And the latest twist is Eu is going to stop all direct imports of vaccine to NI. Not a massive issue in itself because NI vaccines come via UK. But suggests they don’t trust the Uk not to try and bring it in via the Irish border. They are also suspicious that some of the uk’s supplies may have come via the Belgian plant -
Possible but as far as everyone knows all the UK’s doses are now made in the UK.

I suspect some kind of agreement will be made but if any of our supply of either Az or Pfizer vaccine is interrupted it will be very difficult for us to meet our targets. That all being said we are currently way ahead of the Eu in vaccinating people. I’m neutral but some might say they want someone to blame for the fact that they were late ordering the stuff in the first place.

and Nicola Sturgeon isn't helping things

The EU had beef with AZ, now they have made it BEEF with the UK, it has nothing to do with the UK!

Thankfully our goverment hasnt been dragged down with the European union in name calling and have been keeping quiet!

@skoobysnax

and Nicola Sturgeon isn't helping things

Indeed she is taking a pro-Eu view

Basically the EU have fucked up and are now acting like bullies to cover their arses.

There’s a twist that a crucial pfizer component is only made in the USA or Yorkshire too....

We are not obliged to help until our priority groups are sorted at least.

We are not obliged to help AT ALL. Not a bit. There is no legal relationship between the UK and EU on vaccines.

So I don’t see why we would prioritise giving the EU vaccines if we have spare. They should go to less wealthy countries in the Commonwealth to whom we actually owe a debt.

Can anyone shed light on why NC is doing this, I know obviously to try to gain favour with the EU, but they need Scotland like they need measles so it’s very unlikely she’s going to get Scotland back into the EU and if they do gain independence she’s going to need a really good relationship with the U.K. surely?

To expand on the NI thing. The EU are now totally prepared to countenance boarder restrictions between Ireland and NI now it suits them. This was what they were previously severely reprimanding the UK for doing

Thread here
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/4150163-az-eu-contract-published?pg=12

@Frazzled2207

Oxford is made here so no issue getting it in the country. However EU is pissed off because Az is no longer able to given them what they were expecting in q1 due to production delays at their plant in Belgium. Does not affect our order as we ordered 3 months before they did. But EU are now saying even though there are delays in Belgium Az should fulfil order by other means which to them probably means diverting the UK supply. But of course Az has contract with us too. We are not obliged to help until our priority groups are sorted at least.

Eu increasingly pissed off and might try and divert some Pfizer supplies destined for UK to the Eu. However truth is both Eu and UK depend on the other for components for both vaccines so everyone’s hoping Cool heads prevail and we don’t fall out.

At the end of the day though Uk was far more organised with its vaccine order. EU dithered for months which is partly why it is so behind now. Eu’s beef is with Az not the Uk government (yet)

Thanks you! Makes sense now. Like a pp already said I’m seeing snipets of info, but nothing that explains exactly what’s happening

This has been making me a bit panicked today. Mum who is elderly and CEV has had dose 1 of Pfizer. What happens if we can't import dose 2??

The UK booked Take That to sing at its wedding reception in London.

Three months later the EU booked Take That to sing at Angela's birthday in the same day in Berlin, but several hours later.

Take That said yes to Angela on the basis that they could get a flight in time - which was looking possible on EasyJet. But crucially they also said we'll do our best, but if the flight gets cancelled we won't be able to get there.

EasyJet did cancel the flight so Take That told Angela it couldn't make the gig.

Angela threw her toys out of the pram and demanded the UK cancels Take That singing at its wedding.

The UK told Angela to fuck off.

Angela then told the UK that it wouldn't deliver the UK's wedding dress that was being made in the EU.

@withinacceptabletolerances apparently you're give a leaflet saying if a second dose of the same vaccine is unavailable a substitute will be used.

Glad you asked this op.

So the lives in the EU are deemed more important than those here in the UK? I don't think so.

Titchy you're brilliant

@pinksparklypussycat can they do that when that didn't firm part of the clinical trial? Feels a bit like live experimentation....

@skoobysnax

and Nicola Sturgeon isn't helping things

www.thenational.scot/news/19050137.fact-check-claim-nicola-sturgeon-taking-eus-side-uk-astrazeneca-row/

She is wanting transparency.

Basically the EU have fucked up and are now acting like bullies to cover their arses. That sums it up really.

Couldn't Take That do the wedding and Robbie sing at Angela's do?

They key thing is it’s a contractual dispute between Az and the Eu, it really shouldn’t affect us at all. But because the stakes are so high it’s probably going to need some political goodwill on both sides to help and it’s difficult to see how that could be anything other than us diverting some of our supply to the EU. Which is bad for us but on the other hand it isn’t terribly helpful for us to be well ahead of the EU in terms of vaccinating. But we are one of the very worst affected countries right now.