What exactly is happening with AstraZeneca?

hahashake wrote: »

Google translate:

Veeleer het tegendeel = Quite the contrary.

tegendeel = opposite

Also the translater is Belgian.

Weird hill to die on.

Hill to die on? What? It seemed like a strong claim so I wanted to check this out with a native speaker, and it's Twitter so I don't usually take things from there at face value.

hahashake wrote: »

I meant it is fairly straightforward to check these things in 2021, "I asked my friend" falls apart in the face of the reality.

Sheesh, you're more than fine to skip reading - this isn't some debate I'm offering there, more that I'm skeptical of explosive claims about the translation of something from Twitter. I don't know what's "falling apart" except a sense of perspective maybe

Deleted User wrote: »

You are confusing two different things.

The EU has a personal problem with AstraZeneca over contract etc.

But the EU has proposed banning exports of the Pfizer vaccine to the UK (as they are manufactured in Belgium) to which the EU had no legal basis in acquiring whatsoever.

The EU has no right to be acting in such a flagrantly nationalistic, belligerent, and hostile manner.

No. The EU has a problem that it thought it was negotiating in good faith with AZ and that the UK was not a hostile power. Both of those assumptions have proven incorrect. Hence the response.

The EU has every right to defend its citizens against a flagrant attack by a hostile power.

PCeeeee wrote: »

Splendid. Surely the Union flag would be more appropriate though?

Nope. Brexit was always about England. Can you think of a prominent Brexiteer (except for their lapdogs in the North) who isn't English?
There's a reason Scotland and NI voted no.

Ce he sin wrote: »

Nope. Brexit was always about England. Can you think of a prominent Brexiteer (except for their lapdogs in the North) who isn't English?
There's a reason Scotland and NI voted no.

What’s happened to Wales?

HalfAndHalf wrote: »

What’s happened to Wales?

It was among the more surprising results of the EU referendum. But the Welsh vote to leave the EU was misleading — it was caused by retired English people who moved across the border, according to Oxford University research.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/wealthy-english-blow-ins-swung-welsh-brexit-vote-r3qkpmnn3

landofthetree wrote: »

Imagine if Trump or Boris Johnson or Benjamin Netanyahu did something similar.

Biden is doing it right now. Defense production act.

Besides what has the EU done exactly. Other than a bit of talk?

The only thing they actually did was monitor export volumes. Which I hate to break it to you, they did anyway haha.

https://www.ft.com/content/93555276-fc30-41cc-8f94-ca968e3622aa

Ursula von der Leyen has promised Boris Johnson that future EU controls on vaccines will not disrupt contracted supplies of the Belgian-made BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine to Britain.

The European Commission president, made the commitment to the prime minister in a tense Friday night call, which followed the Commission’s controversial plan — hastily abandoned — to impose emergency border controls on vaccines entering Northern Ireland from the EU.

Ms von der Leyen tweeted that the talks with Mr Johnson had been “constructive”, adding: “We agreed on the principle that there should not be restrictions on the export of vaccines by companies where they are fulfilling contractual responsibilities.”

Are things calming now?

Triangle wrote: »

If you think we're in this position because of airports, you're delusional.
The huge numbers in the border counties isn't due to the airports.
The massive count in bellmullet isn't due to airports.
People socialised to much.

It might have played a part, but the huge numbers in the areas I mentioned were due to socialising.

You shouldn't underestimate the indirect effects of too many people visibly travelling.


Although I would consider Belmullet story to be a fairly direct effect.

fly_agaric wrote: »

So on the thread we've had...

EU vaccine purchase & approval regarded as tardy, too cautious, not as "intelligent" shall we say as the UK with signing contacts + garnering up loads of vaccine for itself.

Ireland needs to look out for itself and reject EU procurement scheme, approve 'em all asap, send ministers out with suitcases of cash to blag vaccines any way they can (even under the noses of poorer countries), regardless of ethics or the dangers involved.

EU takes some "real politik" steps to keep a weather eye in future on what the companies manufacturing its vaccines are doing + now it's turnabout & EU is attacked for "vaccine nationalism" + how very nasty it all is!

I think that luminary Steve Bannon (has some fans here apparently) called it flooding the zone with shít.

It's boards.ie there have been a lot of posters on this thread.

lucernarian wrote: »

It triggers me sometimes when A position is misrepresented as B. But I guess it's human nature sometimes to have a "them Vs us" attitude when people are emotionally invested in a point.

The inherent contradictions/inconsistencies annoy me.
It does seem to devolve to "them vs us" at times, just grabbing at any media talking point as a bludgeon.

Donald Trump wrote: »

Don't forget that adamant claim that the then yet-to-be-seen contract contained clauses that allowed AZ to fulfill orders to the UK on a first-come-first-served basis and it was tough shit on the EU for ordering too late and believing AZ promised schedule



Those posters appeared to have disappeared since the contract was published though............

Hadn't noticed they'd gone...

Did not try read or interpret the contract myself, let alone give an opinion here as I don't have the expertise [or time] (and even then, perhaps you'd need to know everything company also agreed with UK + how it might contradict?).

Anyway legal question of can AZ be held accountable for it (i.e. in a court) aside, the company underdelivered on their target by a large margin and seems to have totally blindsided and shocked the EU by admitting this late in the day (right before approval of their vaccine).

edit: That for me, is sufficient reason to keep a much closer watch on activities of these companies as they manufacture vaccines in the EU and distruibute them to member states (and 3rd countries) regardless of whether or not there was underhand behaviour by AZ or indeed the UK.
Doing that seems to be pragmatism/realism given how other countries (like US) behave.

The actions of the British Government to divert promised supply from the E.U.

Can anyone point me to a source for this?

fly_agaric wrote: »

Ireland needs to look out for itself and reject EU procurement scheme, approve 'em all asap, send ministers out with suitcases of cash to blag vaccines any way they can (even under the noses of poorer countries), regardless of ethics or the dangers involved.

That's all very well but we're a small country with small orders which aren't of much interest to a pharma company. If we all went on our own I could see Belgium deciding it's going to prevent the Pfizer plant exporting, Germany offering to purchase 100 million doses as long as it gets them first, and then the French refusing to transport vaccines to Ireland until their population are all vaccinated.

No-one wins if everyone does it by themselves, we all lose - the biggest losers in the current scenario are actually the bigger countries in Europe who could easily have cut their own deals.