UK sends 4 million Pfizer vaccines to Australia

[user823445234]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9954357/Boris-Johnson-sends-FOUR-MILLION-Pfizer-doses-Australia.html

so there is not shortage to explain why 12-15 years cannot be vaccinated in the UK or why we can't give everyone over 50 and CEV/CV boosters, and certainly the UK is not thinking about low-income countries in sending 4 million vaccines overseas.

My thoughts exactly.

There must be something we dont know, otherwise we're losing precious time with most schools returning next week and it could prove a terrifically grave error.

In totally unrelated news, legal provisions for restrictions were today extended to next March.

Apparently it’s a ‘swap’. They’re going to send us back 4 million doses later in the year. (Perhaps because they feel they won’t need them as much in their summer?)

Ummmm, maybe because the lives of people who happen to live in the UK aren't more important than the lives of people who happen to live elsewhere?

Perhaps Australia's need is currently greater than ours? Perhaps we have the vaccines but not the infrastructure to administer them before they go out of date?

It could be argued that the UK got far more than their fair share of vaccines early on. It never should have been a case of those who shout loudest or pay most getting the vaccines. This is a pandemic, a worldwide problem, and vaccinating the residents of one country at the expense of people in other countries is futile, not to mention unfair, unkind and selfish.

Perhaps Australia's need is currently greater than ours?

There are masses and masses of third world countries whose need is greater than Australia’s.

Exactly what @BlackInk said!
Clearly Australia's need for the vaccines is greater than ours .... simple

Why would anyone be annoyed about this? All adults are vaccinated, or very close. We're doing well with 16-17 year olds. I assume we have enough doses for the CEV 12-15 year olds and the boosters.

So why wouldn't we share?

Although I do think Australia could stop posturing about the AZ vaccine and get more people over 40 to have it.

I would argue there are many countries whose need for vaccines is greater than Australia right now. Must be political.

They chose their strategy. Shut borders and sit it out. No urgency in putting lots of vaccine orders in. Then completely trashing a perfectly good AZ one... whereas we just cracked on with getting jabs in arms.

Anyway. I hope it helps them get out of lockdown sooner but I also hope we are sending all these spare vaccines we have to other counties in need who don’t have the means to lockdown.

Though I think we’ve just announced we’re not vaccinating healthy 12-15 year olds so that is where the spare capacity is.

I’m all for sharing but hopefully this is on a ‘who needs it the most’ basis.

It's bribery payment in return for a favourable trade deal?

@bumbleymummy

Apparently it’s a ‘swap’. They’re going to send us back 4 million doses later in the year. (Perhaps because they feel they won’t need them as much in their summer?)

This makes perfect sense then.

No Australia is a very rich country and can easily afford their own vaccines.

The UK government are using limited availability of vaccines to explain why their booster programme is so restricted. But the UK has 4 million 'spare' vaccines to give to another very wealthy country with much lower case rates than the UK.

What's their death and case rates compared to ours? I don't really read the stats anymore.

I thought they were not vaccinating 12-15 year olds because the JCVI are not recommending it, not because we don't have enough doses?

@seb342

I thought they were not vaccinating 12-15 year olds because the JCVI are not recommending it, not because we don't have enough doses?

Correct, as of today, but what's the reason for not following Israel (and preventing the case rates they currently have - worst in world -> soon to be our case rates this winter) by giving out those 4million Pfizer doses as boosters?

,,, or even, of the UK really has no need of these vaccines, give them to a country that really needs them.
The UK government can no longer say we can't justify vaccinating xyz group when there are people in low-income countries with no vaccines - that would be pure hypocrisy.

And case rates and death rates in Australia are much lower than the UK, and they are just finishing their winter, whereas the UK is just going into Autumn and Winter.

The reason for holding on boosters made sense to me - it wasn’t the supply

But deciding which country - Aus or other with much lower rates is another issue

Apparently we now have a surplus of 22m some of which is about to expire?
Makes sense but still no excuse not to vaccinate the teens IMO

@PurpleDaisies

Perhaps Australia's need is currently greater than ours?

There are masses and masses of third world countries whose need is greater than Australia’s.

Actually there probably are not. Largely deaths occur in western nations because of significantly older and fatter populations, it is one of the reasons why the death rates in most of Africa have been low comparatively, despite much less adequate healthcare.

Also, due to the nature of the refrigeration needed for Pfizer it is best distributed in an advanced nation, with AZ used more in the third world.

Another repeat of the India fiasco earlier in the year probably. Boris need a trade deal to disguise the shitshow of Brexit.

@PurpleDaisies

Perhaps Australia's need is currently greater than ours?

There are masses and masses of third world countries whose need is greater than Australia’s.

This

@User135644

Another repeat of the India fiasco earlier in the year probably. Boris need a trade deal to disguise the shitshow of Brexit.

yes, we are heading towards a winter with the worst death rates in the world (exactly replicating what is happening in Israel, who we are slightly behind on timescales).

There are unnecessary delays in giving boosters to most vulnerable, ruling out boosters to moderately vulnerable, no vaccines to secondary school pupils (probably just going to lock them up at home all winter if the teaching unions get their way) and no plans whatsoever that I have heard of to give boosters to the NHS staff who have to look after these highly infectious Covid patients and huge viral loads and are first in line to catch any new variants.

But at least our new extremely wealthy trading partner on the opposite side of the world with much lower case rates and much lower death rates have 4 million of our vaccines, that we have spare and don't feel necessary to give to the low-income countries around the world with much worse Covid situations than Australia.

Oh hand on, is our Head of International Trade an Australian?

• Tony Abbott

Apparently Johnson is getting a beer in return, while the rest of us presumably get access to the worst quality meat in Europe shipped all the way from Australia in a non-environmentally-sound manner.

The UK trade deal with Australia was signed in June

It's probably a travel deal in the pipeline not a trade deal - quarantine free NSW Aussie hols for double jabbed British holiday makers. Reunite families, Brits get hols to Aussie, Aussie's get hols to the UK, Merry Boris saved Christmas, everyone's happy.