Coronavirus

[Barrykearley]

Some will have noticed the kicking Heir Merkel got in the recent elections - democratic will is slowly starting to bite back. The EU need to quickly advance their power stripping of EU states before it collapses.

4 hours ago, 910Esprit said:

I had AZ last week, nothing  to report.

The missus had AZ last week - it nearly killed me just listening to the moaning and groaning as she lumbered round the house complaining how bad she felt. Had great pleasure in telling her I hope she understands man flu now*
 

 

* I can highly recommend Laura Ashley sofas for their sleeping comfort 

[SFO]

4 hours ago, C8RKH said:

It's the EU. A bunch of unelected, unaccountable, bureaucrats in Brussels. Why the hell would they worry about "why it makes any sense"?

In The EU, sell your shellfish. Oh, you're now out of it (no other change) nope, you can sell your shell fish just get on with it.

Then, the EU scream that we have put a block on their lavender plant sales as they are infected with something we don't have on UK soil currently and they say we are unreasonable, untrustworthy and not operating to the spirit of Brexit etc.  Make any sense?

To be fair, the European Commission has called on member states to resume AZ vaccinations ASAP, as the vaccine is safe. 

shellfish is EU doing what it does best, being inflexible and bureaucratic, and "coincidentally" making Brexit more painful.

 

Edited March 17, 2021 by SFO

[SFO]

Ursula has popped up again, this time complaining about how unfair it is that EU exports vaccines, but other countries (UK) do not. And threatening to take measures and do whatever it takes. 

She completely ignores the facts:

1. vaccine exports from EU are in accordance with contracts, just like everything else. 
2. EU signed contracts late, invested too little in advanced manufacturing and planning.

now she demands that vaccines should be distributed equitably according to need thereby tearing up foresight, planning, commercial arrangements .. and the EU prides itself on the rule of law 😂

it's like arriving at a long queue for beers at the bar, and demanding to be served first 

Edited March 17, 2021 by SFO

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

And then refusing to drink the beer.

[C8RKH]

16 minutes ago, SFO said:

Ursula has popped up again, this time complaining about how unfair it is that EU exports vaccines, but other countries (UK) do not. And threatening to take measures and do whatever it takes. 

She completely ignores the facts:

1. vaccine exports from EU are in accordance with contracts, just like everything else. 
2. EU signed contracts late, invested too little in advanced manufacturing and planning.

now she demands that vaccines should be distributed equitably according to need thereby tearing up foresight, planning, commercial arrangements .. and the EU prides itself on the rule of law 😂

it's like arriving at a long queue for beers at the bar, and demanding to be served first 

Don't forget what the collective did to Italy 12 months ago. In their hours of need their EU partners, led by Germany, Austria et al shut down their borders and seized shipments of essential medical equipment to Italy.  "All for one, and all for me" - the true motto of the EU which in Latin would be "Futuere te ipsi" 

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

According to Channel 4 News, only half of the Astra Zeneca vaccine supplied to the EU so far has actually been administered, so why the big stand-off?

[100th_Idiot]

The Italian regulator has stated that the suspension in Italy is politically motivated following pressure from Germnay and France.

They are arse covering and will point at this as a reason why they are behind almost everyone incuding Chile but especially UK.

If they prevent vaccine shipment to the UK it will be because they hate the image of the UK being ahead of the EU at vaccintion now we have left. Also why the guns are turned on AZ as they don't like it was UK developed so want to destroy it's public image to hurt global shipments.

Meanwhile it's ctizens die.

Utter bastards

[PaulCP]

The EU also conveniently forget that (unless my understanding is incorrect) the U.K. not only funded the AZ vaccine but the funding was instrumental in allowing the AZ vaccine to be manufactured worldwide and supplied worldwide at cost, whereas the Pfizer, Moderna and others include a level of profit element.

[Barrykearley]

I think it’s about time we forgot diplomacy  - Boris cut the crap and tell Ursula to fuck right off into the long grass.

[PaulCP]

Hmmm, promoted for incompetence, just about sums up the EU

https://www.politico.eu/article/ursula-von-der-leyen-biography-career-inconvenient-truth/

and the incompetence appears to have continued with the vaccine agreements!

[910Esprit]

And with even more foresight, the UK has clearly been working on securing additional AZ supply chains outside of the EU (India).   Almost like they anticipated the EU's antics, who currently keep shooting themselves in the feet.     

 

[SFO]

3 hours ago, PaulCP said:

The EU also conveniently forget that (unless my understanding is incorrect) the U.K. not only funded the AZ vaccine but the funding was instrumental in allowing the AZ vaccine to be manufactured worldwide and supplied worldwide at cost, whereas the Pfizer, Moderna and others include a level of profit element.

AZ vaccine is unique in this respect .. we are not making money from it, and yet all we get from EU is slander, ingratitude and ignorance. 

Andrew Neil on VDL. Watch from 6mins 30secs

https://youtu.be/Hid7KlYyc1c

[NeilP]

There seems to be little mention by the EU of Serum Institute in India, who are licensed to manufacture the AZ vaccine, and supplied 10m to the UK.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKCN2AV0A2

[thebartman]

15 hours ago, SFO said:

https://youtu.be/Hid7KlYyc1c

Just watched the whole lot - Wow - bloody amazing ....  haven't laughed so much in ages - just about to go online and take out a subscription to Private Eye .....  oh, and have a late afternoon Beer .......

 

[Barrykearley]

So the EU have made a u-turn on the AZ vaccine. They are an absolute farce at best.

Daisy has her first shift scheduled tomorrow for administration of vaccines at a health centre 🙌

[exeterjeep]

4 minutes ago, Barrykearley said:

So the EU have made a u-turn on the AZ vaccine. They are an absolute farce at best.

Anyone now want to re-join the EU. May be Scotland still...

[100th_Idiot]

[Bibs]

I do feel for bus drivers, they always get the blame! 

[Barrykearley]

Daisy did her first 4 hr vaccination shift today. 3 hrs prep and paperwork - 1 hour jabbing. 20 folks done.

She goes again Sunday  one very proud Dad today

[Dave Eds]

I had the Cambridge astrological jab today 😁

 

 

 

 

Feeling a bit spaced out now.....

[pete]

Normal Friday night in the past

[march]

[Barrykearley]

HAHAHA - EU really are up shit creak without a paddle! Come on Boris!!! 

Pfizer has warned the EU to back down from its threat to block vaccines to the UK because the firm needs crucial ingredients shipped from Yorkshire, The Telegraph has learned.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/03/19/pfizer-urges-eu-back-away-vaccine-blockade-threat/?fbclid=IwAR3oG-Qw3-JunBlT3Jg6ri2VNN-RRttLvFTGaIy-3BF_2YrjXD1L8SxL85U

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Posting links to the Telegraph doesn’t mean anything to the vast majority of us who don’t subscribe. Can you copy and paste the text?

[SFO]

Pfizer has warned the EU to back down from its threat to block vaccines to the UK because the firm needs crucial ingredients shipped from Yorkshire, The Telegraph has learned.

The drugmaker and its partner BioNTech have told Brussels that the UK has the power to retaliate against any export ban by withholding raw materials needed for its jab.

Croda International, a chemicals firm based in Snaith, Yorkshire, has been delivering vital "fatty molecules" to Pfizer's factories in the EU since signing a five-year contract with the firm in November.

Pfizer and BioNtech are understood to have warned EU leaders that production at the main vaccine factory in Belgium could "grind to a halt" within weeks if the UK moved to prevent deliveries from crossing the Channel.

It comes amid a bitter international row over vaccine supplies after Emmanuel Macron backed a threat by the EU Commission president, Ursula Von der Leyen, to seize factories, waive patents and ban vaccine exports to the UK unless Boris Johnson surrendered British-made AstraZeneca jabs to the EU.

One senior Government source involved in tackling the Covid pandemic played down the chance that Britain would retaliate by blocking its own exports of vaccine components to Europe.

However, Pfizer and BioNtech are understood to have privately warned the commission that any vaccine ban on the UK would risk provoking a Downing Street backlash that could further derail the bloc's stuttering vaccine rollout.

The drugmaker has already admitted it faces a global shortage of lipid nanoparticles, the specialised fatty molecules used to encase the fragile mRNA vaccine and safely deliver it to human cells.

A senior source close to the vaccine-making process said Pfizer was "heavily dependent" on supplies of lipid ingredients from the UK, saying: "They [Pfizer/BioNTech] told the commission that if the UK shuts down the lipids then the whole process grinds to a halt in weeks."

A Pfizer spokesman said: "We have been clear with all stakeholders that the free movement of goods and supply across borders is absolutely critical to Pfizer and the patients we serve."

Last November, Pfizer signed a five-year deal with the Yorkshire-based firm Croda International, one of the few companies in the world able to supply the crucial substance. Croda told the stock exchange earlier this year that its contract with Pfizer to deliver four ingredients would generate $125 million in sales this year, adding that it was quadrupling the capacity of its UK factory to meet demand.

The firm also has a newly-acquired factory owned by a subsidiary in Alabama, and is understood to have been helping Pfizer to raise the storage temperature of its vaccine so vials can be kept in a standard refrigerator.

The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine recently announced contracts with the Germany-based companies Evonik and Merck KGaA to dramatically scale up the supply of lipids.

However, in a recent conference call with industry leaders and German politicians including Angela Merkel, the chancellor, Sierk Poetting, the BioNTech chief operating officer, warned that lipids supply remained the key bottleneck facing production of the Pfizer vaccine and said it would take up to eight months to boost production.

"We need kilos and kilos and kilos of that stuff," Mr Poetting said, adding that any export restrictions could endanger the supply. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is also reliant on components shipped from the US and Canada.

A senior UK government source played down the idea of a retaliatory ban, stressing that the move would undercut calls for Brussels to honour its contracts as Britain seeks to attract new businesses after Brexit.

"The message is that if you want to come and set up your manufacturing base in the UK you can," the source added, saying retaliation against Brussels over vaccine exports would undercut that.

A spokesman for Croda International said: "We manufacture components within the UK that we ship to Pfizer facilities in multiple locations, including Belgium."

A Pfizer spokesman said: "We have been clear with all stakeholders that the free movement of goods and supply across borders is absolutely critical to Pfizer and the patients we serve. We are working closely with governments around the world, including the UK Government and the European Commission, to ensure the supply of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in accordance with the agreed schedules."

Last month, a diplomatic row broke out after Charles Michel, the European Council president, claimed the UK had imposed an "outright ban" on the export of Covid vaccines and vaccine components. Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, later dismissed the accusation as "completely false".

Edited March 20, 2021 by SFO