EU threatening to cut off supply of vaccines to UK

[Iremembertheelderlykoreanlady]

Because they've not got enough apparently (despite the fact that they've got a shit load of AZ stockpiled because they've mostly stopped using it)

This is really starting to piss me off now, and has someone who is due 2nd Pfizer jab in 8 weeks in starting to worry I won't get it!

They're threatening to stop supply to USA too.

Wankers

www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/ursula-von-der-leyen-threatens-cut-off-covid-exports-uk-b924652.html

If it’s AZ then they can use the stock pile already there

Whilst looking I found this one again. Quite an interesting review of the contract issues

www.politico.eu/article/the-key-differences-between-the-eu-and-uk-astrazeneca-contracts/

I suspect if we held the 2016 referendum now the leave vote would be far higher

No doubt it would ... strange, isn't it, that the more assertive Remainers have gone awfully quiet recently?

I voted remain and would have been one of the staunchest probably back then.

I’m so annoyed now at the tactics, I haven’t gone quiet. Really irritated.

There’s interference, undermining and contrary practise. Frustrating.

This woman needs sacking:

Von der Leyen issues fresh warning to AstraZeneca over reduced vaccine supply

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen adopted a stern tone as she issued a new warning against the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca because of reduced vaccine deliveries.

Von der Leyen told newspapers of the Funke media group:

We have the option of prohibiting a planned export. That is the message to AstraZeneca: You first fulfill your contract with Europe before you start delivering to other countries.

She said the company had only delivered 30 percent of the agreed amount of vaccines in the first quarter. Von der Leyen had already announced on Wednesday that the EU Commission is considering new export requirements for scarce vaccines.

On Friday, she announced that a formal letter had been sent to the manufacturer about the delivery problems.

Von der Leyen said the contract between the EU and AstraZeneca clearly states how much vaccine the EU should receive from AstraZeneca’s plants inside the EU and the UK.

“We didn’t get anything from the Brits while we are delivering vaccines to them,” she said.

So she is factually incorrect too! Or compartmentalizing the 2 main vaccines.

And again, the contractual differences are at the heart of that!

The lack of internal logic in her stance is quite shocking, let alone the lack of diplomacy. She'll draw some very unpleasant comparisons...

Are these her last pharmaceutical ambitions in Europe?

I voted remain and would have been one of the staunchest probably back then
I’m so annoyed now at the tactics, I haven’t gone quiet. Really irritated

That's extremely honest of you, Marsha, but then thinking of your other posts I'm not at all surprised

Pity there aren't more like you ...

@CuriousaboutSamphire

Whilst looking I found this one again. Quite an interesting review of the contract issues

www.politico.eu/article/the-key-differences-between-the-eu-and-uk-astrazeneca-contracts/

At the end of the article it sais To be sure, the EU contract says Brussels may suspend payments if AstraZeneca fails to deliver, and it specifically states that AstraZeneca may not have any impending contracts that would hinder its ability to supply the EU. But it also states that if AstraZeneca’s performance is “impeded by any such competing agreements, AstraZeneca shall not be deemed in breach” of its agreement with the EU.

If you actually look at the published EU contract, "Such competing agreements" very clearly refers to "competing agreement entered into by or on behalf of the Commission", not any contract between AZ and the UK. That part of the analysis is therefore obviously complete nonsense misleading, and I would be very cautious about taking any of the rest as fact.

I wasn't taking any of it at face value, having been on all the original 'contract' threads.

I've come to assume that it is all complicates, each contract containing parts that conflict with others and AZ is doing what will cost it least in penalities.

My take home from it all is that some EU/European leaders are doing a bloody good job of making Johnson and The Goviot look like statesmen!!!!

Hopefully we will remain dignified and thus advertise that we are a good country in which to invest in manufacturing plants and for pharmaceutical and tech industries as a whole.

I think they are perfectly capable of hanging themselves and we don't need to pull back on the rope they're using.

I voted remain and I'm still a remainer. I still think the decision to leave the EU is a poor one that will ultimately be to the detriment of the U.K.

That doesn't mean I agree with everything that the EU ever do/have done and I don't think they've covered themselves in glory on the vaccine issue. That doesn't change my fundamental view on the pros and cons of being in the EU however.

@Sunshinegirl82

I voted remain and I'm still a remainer. I still think the decision to leave the EU is a poor one that will ultimately be to the detriment of the U.K.

That doesn't mean I agree with everything that the EU ever do/have done and I don't think they've covered themselves in glory on the vaccine issue. That doesn't change my fundamental view on the pros and cons of being in the EU however.

Indeed!

I think many of us Brits are very good at seeing the flaws of the EU and knew when we were voting Remain that we were not voting for the perfect institution. Still better to be a member though than not!

You could actually argue that whole of the EU could be further forward if they hadn't lost the UK as an EU nation.

I fear that many very pro EU Brits and others who despise the Brits for Brext can no longer see the faults of the EU. We blamed EU for everything (unfairly) for decades. I suspect the EU will also unfairly blame us for every mistake they made

My take home from it all is that some EU/European leaders are doing a bloody good job of making Johnson and The Goviot look like statesmen!!!!

Considering how difficult that it, some may well find it encouraging that the EU and it's leaders have a use after all

😁 I'll try and view it in that light from now on!

wake I am not sure the vaccine fiasco would be any better if we were still part of the EU, we would simply be in the same position as them. IE in the shit vaccine wise.

I think it is a tiny bit arrogant to suggest that the EU needs us, they don't need us.
We were holding them back with the plans that they have to further integrate financially/military etc. You can help improve something if you are listened to, but there was no respect towards our views (or any other countries that were not France or Germany) It is why the referendum happened ~ because the decades of discussions and debate had run dry with zero, and I mean zero results.

Now we have left, it is painfully obvious that the EU have learnt nothing. Here they are not really thinking through the impact of a trade war that they are launching in the middle of a pandemic. No one is pausing to consider the consequences. VDL has just repeated her threat now this lunch time, she certainly isn't listening to the pleas for calm and rational decisions, and she doesn't seem to care about what she is doing to the EU's creditability, reputation and standing. Not even remotely aware that other countries are likely to retaliate. VDL is looking terrifying now, and she is even worse than Juncker and he was bad with his alcohol addiction and drunken ramblings, but he at least listened to others some of the time, he was not arrogant in that way.

We now have another German Dictator in charge of Europe that answers to no one and nothing.

@Itsalonghaul - Thank you for the above comment. You have just expressed what the silent majority are thinking but dare not say due to the fear of being shouted down by the vocal minority, so prevalent on Mumsnet, who - let’s be honest - hate the British.

This is why people voted for Brexit.

I am not sure the vaccine fiasco would be any better if we were still part of the EU, we would simply be in the same position as them. IE in the shit vaccine wise.

I agree with this.

Pfizer have now told VDL not to get involved with a vaccine trade war with the UK as one of their raw ingredients is made in Yorkshire

I hesitated before I posted EY because it is a highly emotive observation, and one perhaps none of us really wants to look at too closely, but we have to be honest about what is actually happening now.
As unpalatable as it is.

It can be lost on no one the historical meaning of what is now playing out over vaccines, but it could be anything lets face it.
I am not that worried about our vaccine programme, we will manage, but it is the long term consequences of hostility, and a trade war from our so called allies and friends, and the implications for the EU in terms of their future business and trade that worries me most. Trust will completely break down after this. No company will feel comfortable ever opening a factory or office again with the threat of 'requisitioning' hanging over them. Even that words feels quite triggering given the history.

I can only imagine the situation is far far worse on the ground both in terms of third wave covid rates, and the spiralling economic fall out. It must be absolutely dire, for these are actions of truly panicked and desperate leaders alarmed and fearful of where this will end.

We have a openly hostile escalation now. I hope the UK retains its dignity and does not feel tempted to retaliate, the world is watching very closely. Lets make some good decisions now, and hope that the moment passes (or VDL is sacked or sectioned)

*those

I am not sure the vaccine fiasco would be any better if we were still part of the EU, we would simply be in the same position as them. IE in the shit vaccine wise.

1/ EMA was based in London and worked closely with MHRA.

2/ Sensible UK govts could actually wield some influence & often had a similar view to Germany and could negate the damaging influence of France.

It would have been better because it would have been quicker and the more effort would have been put into building the whole AZ supply chain and not just the UK bit of it.

It is why the referendum happened ~ because the decades of discussions and debate had run dry with zero, and I mean zero results

That's not really true though. It's what you have been led to believe by English press.

Yes there were issues, noone is denying that. I think few in the UK wanted closer union but a lot of good things that have happened over the last 40 or so years have been as a result of the EU. And much of that was driven from the UK.

www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/pfizer-eu-covid-vaccine-threats-uk-b925289.html?amp

@Wakeupin2022

I am not sure the vaccine fiasco would be any better if we were still part of the EU, we would simply be in the same position as them. IE in the shit vaccine wise.

1/ EMA was based in London and worked closely with MHRA.

2/ Sensible UK govts could actually wield some influence & often had a similar view to Germany and could negate the damaging influence of France.

It would have been better because it would have been quicker and the more effort would have been put into building the whole AZ supply chain and not just the UK bit of it.

Who was pushing for everyone to wait and align?

That’s what took time didn’t it? Iirc