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

I just hope we have enough pfizer for 2nd doses.
Maybe we should be in talks with Israel if we are short.
They won't be happy until some vaccines come from uk factoris.
A couple million at Netherlands won't interest them.
I hope talks in India were productive.
Where does that leave Australia they just setting up their az factory.

So bad if they disrupt our rollout which has been excellent.

Given the very serious escalation with the sanctions with China and Russia, the EU and UK would do well to stop bickering over vaccines and start to show some solidarity. There are some enemies of the west that are taking full advantage of this situation.

The U.K. have stayed remarkably silent in the face of what is fundamentally a contract dispute between the EU and AZ. This one is entirely escalated by the EU largely, as far as I can tell, as an act of political arse-covering. They must know they haven’t got a leg to stand on contractually, or they would be trying to resolve this through the remedies in the contract and not through politics.

As others have said, UvdL is making Boris look restrained and statesman-like. @Itsalonghaul - I agree with you. The actions of the EU are doing tremendous damage on the world stage, but that’s not something the U.K. can solve.

It’s also unlikely to secure the EU a meaningful number of additional doses.

The U.K. have stayed remarkably silent in the face of what is fundamentally a contract dispute between the EU and AZ. This one is entirely escalated by the EU largely, as far as I can tell, as an act of political arse-covering. They must know they haven’t got a leg to stand on contractually, or they would be trying to resolve this through the remedies in the contract and not through politics

I couldn’t agree more. If it was a breach then there would be legal channels to resolve it.

Funnily enough I'm still not at all convinced the media are doing a good job at giving the full balanced story but we are where we are.

TBH in terms of the reality on the ground I think we need to wait and see what the Heads of States come up with, ultimately they call the shots, not VdL.

the EU and UK would do well to stop bickering over vaccines and start to show some solidarity. There are some enemies of the west that are taking full advantage of this situation.

Agreed.

@MarshaBradyo

The U.K. have stayed remarkably silent in the face of what is fundamentally a contract dispute between the EU and AZ. This one is entirely escalated by the EU largely, as far as I can tell, as an act of political arse-covering. They must know they haven’t got a leg to stand on contractually, or they would be trying to resolve this through the remedies in the contract and not through politics

I couldn’t agree more. If it was a breach then there would be legal channels to resolve it.

On the Podium last night he was very clearly saying that such actions were not at all what the UK people or government was about. That we don't consider banning/blocking to be reasonable. Global effort, we all need everyone to be vaccinated.

Again, given the difference between seeing and hearing UvdL speak and his speaking yesterday, someone has managed to make him look reasonable, statesmanlike and well balanced!

And that's despite the press questions, etc.

Listening to Belgium MEP atm on R4

So much damning against AZ

God does anyone think how good it is that we have an at cost vaccine? No just this

He admits that millions are being stored in EU

But unless they pass emergency powers to seize and use the vaccines.
All they will say is they can't go to x and be sat in a warehouses.
This may as well be called uk blackmail tool.
Like others say we not producing the vast amounts they need then hurdle twothen hurdle 3 speedy roll out and getting citizens to want to have the az.
We now they have nearly 12 million doses not used.
Would blocking pfizer mean uk take legal action against pfizer or moderna ?
They don't seem to have started any legal proceedings against AZ.
Also did I misread the az interveiw dident they deliver on the revised order or 17million by end if quarter 1?
We still bin quarter one so just summoning that we have some pfizer and moderna due in the next 2 weeks for them to block.

At this rate they will be buying vaccines off China and Russia

I will be so angry if we delayed for months with vaccinations.
I'm 40 so God knows when I be done as apart from az they have the others .

Countries may have used pause to undermine AZ - MEP

What a mess

Also having a go re incomplete data

There’s always a choice, we’ll use it

There is some news in the Spanish media from the french one today

lexpansion.lexpress.fr/actualite-economique/astrazeneca-le-stock-cache-des-30-millions-de-vaccins-en-italie_2147386.html

But the problem is more likely in Leiden, the Netherlands. This medium-sized city, located about 20 kilometers from The Hague, is the headquarters of the subcontractor Halix, a well-known manufacturer of large laboratories, specializing in viral vectors and recombinant proteins. On April 15, 2020, the latter signed an agreement with the University of Oxford to produce viral vectors for clinical trials. On December 8, Halix signed a new agreement with AstraZeneca to produce the active ingredient for the vaccine on a large scale. To do this, Halix committed to increasing the capacity of two of its production lines. The problem was that a month later, when the European Medicines Agency (EMA) gave the green light to the commercialization of the Anglo-Swedish vaccine, Halix disappeared from the list of subcontractors. The reason was that the EMA had never received all the documents detailing the scientific data necessary for the certification of the Dutch center. "And it is not for lack of having multiplied the requests", says the cabinet of Thierry Breton, European commissioner of the internal market, in charge of supervising the production of vaccines against cholera, that has had to decide to withdraw it from the list. A factory that, according to the information collected by the Express, would have produced since last September the equivalent of four or five million doses per month. The doses that would have been sent for the "fill & finish" to the Italian center of Anagni, owned by the American group Catalent. This means that more than 30 million vaccines would go inactive in Rome, just at the moment when Europe needs them most. When asked about this administrative mess, those responsible for Astrazeneca did not want to answer our questions, simply repeating that this Dutch factory had not received EMA certification, but that "the file was ongoing".

@MarshaBradyo

Also having a go re incomplete data

There’s always a choice, we’ll use it

Not sure why continue undermining a vaccine and at the same time creating so much drama. I’ve the feeling Europe doesn’t want to use the vaccine anymore so are trying to do as much damage on it as possible so the rest of the world doesn’t neither. Trying to break their contract without being penalised

@notimagain

Funnily enough I'm still not at all convinced the media are doing a good job at giving the full balanced story but we are where we are.

TBH in terms of the reality on the ground I think we need to wait and see what the Heads of States come up with, ultimately they call the shots, not VdL.

the EU and UK would do well to stop bickering over vaccines and start to show some solidarity. There are some enemies of the west that are taking full advantage of this situation.

Agreed.

To be fair, we're just getting on with our vaccine rollout. What the EU and European leaders do and say is not our responsibility.

The U.K. have stayed remarkably silent in the face of what is fundamentally a contract dispute between the EU and AZ.

It strikes me the Uk government have been able to stay largely silent on this by winding up their friends in the media.

I know many of you hate the view from elsewhere but if you want to know what informs opinion the other side of the channel the real bugbear for many really is the lack of reciprocity (which was supposedly something that the UK agreed to).

All that said this will all have to resolved with a bit of give and take on all sides and I'm slightly more confident that will happen after the Head of States discuss this than some here appear to be.

Well, it certainly makes a nice difference from "The UK is a tiny, insignificant country which needs the EU far more than the EU needs it". Turns out they do need us, or at least our vaccine raw materials.

I think AZ could do with clearing the paperwork/Halix issue up. Have they sent it or not? I'm not sure what is going on here. If the paperwork hasn't been sent from AZ to EMA then why are the EU not clearly stating this? this would then go some way to us understanding the EUs frustration and the reason why they are sitting on all these vaccines that they can't use.

Something is not adding up here and a bit of clarification would be helpful to everyone.

I can only think AZ are being particularly quiet at the moment as maybe they are seeking advice from their legal team.

@notimagain

The U.K. have stayed remarkably silent in the face of what is fundamentally a contract dispute between the EU and AZ.

It strikes me the Uk government have been able to stay largely silent on this by winding up their friends in the media.

I know many of you hate the view from elsewhere but if you want to know what informs opinion the other side of the channel the real bugbear for many really is the lack of reciprocity (which was supposedly something that the UK agreed to).

All that said this will all have to resolved with a bit of give and take on all sides and I'm slightly more confident that will happen after the Head of States discuss this than some here appear to be.

We do get spokespeople from EU here, Belgium MEP this morning for example

What do you think U.K. has agreed to but hasn’t done?

To be fair, we're just getting on with our vaccine rollout. What the EU and European leaders do and say is not our responsibility.

True although the stressful part is the impact it can directly have on our rollout

@StormzyinaTCup

I think AZ could do with clearing the paperwork/Halix issue up. Have they sent it or not? I'm not sure what is going on here. If the paperwork hasn't been sent from AZ to EMA then why are the EU not clearly stating this? this would then go some way to us understanding the EUs frustration and the reason why they are sitting on all these vaccines that they can't use.

Something is not adding up here and a bit of clarification would be helpful to everyone.

I can only think AZ are being particularly quiet at the moment as maybe they are seeking advice from their legal team.

Eu is meant to approve it tomorrow

Can you imagine millions of vaccines sitting in warehouses in the EU which no one can use, while 100s and thousands of people die in the UK when the 4th wave hits in autumn!

Eu is meant to approve it tomorrow

Yes, thats what I had been hearing too but I read a couple of articles yesterday that said it might now go into early April (but no mention why).

@Baileysforchristmas

Can you imagine millions of vaccines sitting in warehouses in the EU which no one can use, while 100s and thousands of people die in the UK when the 4th wave hits in autumn!

Can you imagine millions in the warehouse whilst thousands die like there are at the moment in the EU?

I know many of you hate the view from elsewhere but if you want to know what informs opinion the other side of the channel the real bugbear for many really is the lack of reciprocity (which was supposedly something that the UK agreed to).

Agreed to with whom, please?

Because, as far as I can see, there are no agreements between countries. There are agreements between individual countries and vaccine suppliers.

Production within the UK is owned by Astrazenaca UK. Which is a different entity from AZ AB, with whom the EU have their contracts. The EU does not, as I understand it, have any contracts with AZ UK. And the UK does not own any manufacturing capacity - like Europe, it simply has private companies who do within its borders - so I don't see how the UK could have contracted anything with the EU.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but that's how I see the legal picture.

Companies in the UK do have contracts with Pfizer to supply lipids, which are essential for manufacture. And, it has been said up-thread, the sensors needed to confirm the cold chain of the finished vaccine.

Again, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think there's been any suggestion that the UK have blocked those exports.

It seems to me that UK-based companies are supplying what the EU ordered. And EU companies are doing likewise, within the restrictions of upscaling an unpredictable biological process. That is reciprocity. If the EU has an issue with its suppliers that is between them and those suppliers. It's only become an EU/UK dispute because the EU made it so.