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

wake I just don't agree. The EU commission would have had the last word, and that would have included a sizeable chunk of the contracts going to the failed French vaccine regardless. The politics of the situation would have demanded it.

Please don't blame France entirely for this. Germany held the same view as France on AZ, and Merkel was actually leading the way with some of the misinformation about AZ and its efficacy in older people. The UK would have been ignored and sidelined, as we were on many issues before brexit. The decisions are made largely by the duo. Influence is very limited for other countries.

The supply chain would be just as it does now, it would be no different if we were still part of the EU. As building the kind of production you are describing takes years and years.
Assuming normal trade ties, we would have no problem between us had the EU signed the contracts in a timely way, and organised themselves better so they were able to secure the vaccines at more or less the same time as the UK. They choose to do things differently (like wasting time driving down the cost)and this is the result.

The whole EU infrastructure does not lend itself to health and vaccine distribution. The logistics are too large, too many countries have their individual challenges on the ground. For it to work really well, you need a nimble, knowledgeable task force, a big budget, and pref a small population. Not unlike Israel for instance. The EU is the very opposite.
And now it has failed at the one thing it needed to do right.

Sorry for typos predictor on phone keeps messing up my posts!

@JamesAnderson

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

Isn't this what UvdL is complaining about? It's the reciprocal arrangements between the UK and the EU Commission that are unequal. The UK isn't sending the quantity of Pfizer components as promised so the Commission, want to hold up the AZ deliveries?

As you can probably tell, I'm completely unsure of the reasons.

"Isn't this what UvdL is complaining about?"

No it isnt. She is complaining that she is not getting the vaccines AZ produces in the uk.

@alreadytaken

"Isn't this what UvdL is complaining about?"

No it isnt. She is complaining that she is not getting the vaccines AZ produces in the uk.

And Pfizer are saying, don't get involved as you may end up with none of our vaccine either, if the UK blocks exports of our main component

It is worryingly fascistic.

It's just not the way democratic states, as part of a global network of trade and investment that relies on trust, behave.

She keeps saying'we are exporting' meaning the eu when the eu doesn't own any of what is being exported, private companies do and some of those aren't even owned by the eu. It's not a nationally owned company or resource but a myriad of private concerns and foreign investors.

I'm stunned she's doubled down on the threat.

The EU commission would have had the last word, and that would have included a sizeable chunk of the contracts going to the failed French vaccine regardless. The politics of the situation would have demanded it.

Oh, absolutely. Anyone who believes otherwise is very naive at best.

@TheHoneyBadger thats what I don't get their not hers they are private with contracts to keep and if papers are to be believed even one of the companies is saying its a risky stance as we send a component from the uk

She is being so dangerous. So if EU refuses to export AZ vaccine (that we have paid for and is not owned by EU but a private company), then we block exports of the lipids made in Yorkshire that are vital for the Pfizer vaccine. EU doesn't seem to like AZ so won't be able to vaccinate many people and it won't be able to make and Pfizer. We can still make AZ, just less of it. Not sure she really has a full grasp on the situation.
If I was her I'd ask us for help in setting up the efficient distribution in Europe. If we can vaccinate 1.3 million people in 2 days I'm sure we can give some good advice. This should not be the time to be playing politics.

Yes, and note it was Pfizer who said that, who pointed out the obvious.

Not the UK government, who are currently speaking to the Belgian government, suddenly having found a reason to bury previous antagonisms and work on a mutual agreement.

UvdL is changing the internal workings of the EU s member states in ways she doesn't seem to have considered, or has discounted for some reason.

Interesting the the government response was not to support Pfizer in our potential to cripple the vaccine production but to highlight that we wouldn't do that as we are 'open for business'.

It's a bit of a pincer move although I'm sure it wasn't co-ordinated...

Highlighting that the EU is effectively announcing itself to be closed to business. Beyond an own goal from VdL

But have we been getting AZ vaccines from the EU? I thought that had stopped when she threw her toys out the pram the last time?

We need the Pfizer vaccine so we are not going to stop supplying the lipids.

This all sounds like hot air. Unless we have actually been getting AZ deliveries in the last 6 weeks or so.

The only threat they really have is Pfizer and they Moderna at the moment.

But we do hold the trump card with Pfizer thankfully or that would have been stopped before now.

It’s funny how the EU would rather make threats to the UK than ask the UK for help.

@Wakeupin2022 it's a bit like mutually assured destruction. The Russians didn't nuke the West, because they knew the Americans would nuke them back. The Americans didn't nuke Moscow, because...

UvdL (hopefully) won't block Pfizer exports, because someone will tell her that, if she does, the UK will block the export of Pfizer ingredients. The UK won't block the export of those ingredients, because we want the vaccine.

It's a bloody stupid escalation because, at best, it does nothing except make the EU look untrustworthy. At worst, it risks reduced vaccine supply for everyone.

I hope common sense will prevail...

@Baileysforchristmas my thoughts too. Why not ask for our advice as to how to do it well. We don't do much well I admit 😊

Re UvdL

Covax was unhappy with her back in August as they felt she was being nationalistic about vaccines then, and undermining their procurement strategy for all countries.

I have screen shots from Reuters as I came across the article (dated August) whilst looking for something else but can't find the link now, will keep looking.

I think we have been too busy and bogged down with our own covid problems to really deeply consider what has happened in the EU in the last few months:

I understand why the EU would not want any country over another to have more vaccine, if you are going to take such a huge decision when hundreds of thousands of lives are at stake you want to make sure that you know what you are doing.
The general ineptitude of the commission and the sheer length of time it can take to do anything at all must have been an early warning sign surely, it is painfully obvious to most that this was beyond them, and yet members still didn't branch out and protect their own people because of the politics.

The governments of EU countries are now culpable for the entirely preventable deaths that will follow. How are the Europeans okay with this? This IS going to be so bad for them, with the third wave about to hit, why aren't they furious with their leaders? Why are they just accepting this terrible fate? I don't understand the apathy.

All hell would break loose here if our gov had dared do such a thing. People are dying, and will be in their thousands because the commission messed up the vaccines. Whole economies will go bust because of this. The countries most affected seem to be in some kind of stupor, because any democracy worth its salt would be up in arms by now. Literally.

The second thing I note is that VDL is being as aggressive and hostile as she likes, with seemingly no critics whatsoever. We are hearing absolutely nothing from European governments, it is as if they don't actually exist and are just a mirage. Poland and Italy voiced their thoughts about the political nature of suspending AZ, but that is all we have heard! Where are the voices of the 26 nations that are being represented here? And let down in the process? Are they in agreement/disagreement - indifferent?

I am feeling more alarmed by the way VDL can trample all over global trade agreements and contracts, and the rule of law that protects all business seemingly without any opposition whatsoever, not even the merest hint of distaste. You would think that some leaders would be getting very involved at this stage wouldn't you, given everything at stake. But nope. So it certainly appears that VDL truly is driving the EU juggernaut by herself, seemingly without any brakes, experience or any idea of the damage that she is causing to all the other road users. What will it actually take to stop her one wonders quietly.

It is fucking scary. Anyone that doesn't think so can't understand the situation.

What the hell is going on?

It looks like Germany will buy the Russian vaccine

SPUTNIK SAGA: Both Germany’s Angela Merkel and Italy’s Mario Draghi have said they are ready to order Russia’s Sputnik vaccine if it gets approved by the European Medicines Agency.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday, the German chancellor indicated that the country would be willing to buy the vaccine on a national basis if the European Commission didn’t go ahead with joint procurement. Italian Prime Minister Draghi said he had spoken to Merkel on the topic of Sputnik and agreed with her on this.

@Itsalonghaul

I think we have been too busy and bogged down with our own covid problems to really deeply consider what has happened in the EU in the last few months:

I understand why the EU would not want any country over another to have more vaccine, if you are going to take such a huge decision when hundreds of thousands of lives are at stake you want to make sure that you know what you are doing.
The general ineptitude of the commission and the sheer length of time it can take to do anything at all must have been an early warning sign surely, it is painfully obvious to most that this was beyond them, and yet members still didn't branch out and protect their own people because of the politics.

The governments of EU countries are now culpable for the entirely preventable deaths that will follow. How are the Europeans okay with this? This IS going to be so bad for them, with the third wave about to hit, why aren't they furious with their leaders? Why are they just accepting this terrible fate? I don't understand the apathy.

All hell would break loose here if our gov had dared do such a thing. People are dying, and will be in their thousands because the commission messed up the vaccines. Whole economies will go bust because of this. The countries most affected seem to be in some kind of stupor, because any democracy worth its salt would be up in arms by now. Literally.

The second thing I note is that VDL is being as aggressive and hostile as she likes, with seemingly no critics whatsoever. We are hearing absolutely nothing from European governments, it is as if they don't actually exist and are just a mirage. Poland and Italy voiced their thoughts about the political nature of suspending AZ, but that is all we have heard! Where are the voices of the 26 nations that are being represented here? And let down in the process? Are they in agreement/disagreement - indifferent?

I am feeling more alarmed by the way VDL can trample all over global trade agreements and contracts, and the rule of law that protects all business seemingly without any opposition whatsoever, not even the merest hint of distaste. You would think that some leaders would be getting very involved at this stage wouldn't you, given everything at stake. But nope. So it certainly appears that VDL truly is driving the EU juggernaut by herself, seemingly without any brakes, experience or any idea of the damage that she is causing to all the other road users. What will it actually take to stop her one wonders quietly.

It is fucking scary. Anyone that doesn't think so can't understand the situation.

What the hell is going on?

Can you imagine posters reactions if it were reversed? We wouldn’t be requisitioning either but going crazy over incompetence

Well they are looking more like Russia by the day so maybe a good fit.

Hope they do go Russian. More AZ for us 😊. As Van Tam said, vaccines work in arms not in fridges. Get the stuff you've got EU into those arms now.

Superb posts, Itsalonghaul, especially the part about the comparative silence from other governments. It's obviously very easy for UvdL to paint some other nation as the villain in order to deflect responsibility, and I'm reminded of Churchill paraphrasing Santayana, when he said, "Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it"

I trust it won't come to that, but am convinced this will finally sound the death knell of Germany's manic unification project
There'll be pain along the way of course, but at least we're no longer so closely bound to it

still haven't found the link but did find another one similar
www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-who-idUSKCN25E0AZ

@Itsalonghaul

This IS going to be so bad for them, with the third wave about to hit, why aren't they furious with their leaders? Why are they just accepting this terrible fate? I don't understand the apathy.

If you think "they" are just accepting it or are apathetic you really really need to try and access the foreign media feeds direct (? streaming), and I don't mean the sanitised English language versions that appear on UK Freesat, I mean the native versions.

There are certainly a few people in Europe furious with some of their leaders, and as one example the nature of the new confinement in parts of France has really caused some feisty stuff to kick off on BFMTV this evening.