5 ms·

Sigh, do we really have to play this game? I'll take the other side. I wonder what all the EU citizens think who are not getting vaccinated because the EU thou

by zpeti 6y ago

Sigh, do we really have to play this game? I'll take the other side. I wonder what all the EU citizens think who are not getting vaccinated because the EU thought it would play hard ball with the drug companies, who basically went elsewhere as they don't care about EU bureaucratic games?

dmitriid 6y ago
> I wonder what all the EU citizens think who are not getting vaccinated because the EU thought it would play hard ball What do you mean? Current vaccination plan is 80% of population by summer, isn't it?
- toyg 6y ago
  Don’t feed the troll.
- mft_ 6y ago
  Good luck; anecdotally low risk people in Germany more likely to be towards the end of the year, unless something changes.
- ben_w 6y ago
  That may be the intention, and it may yet be achieved, but the most recent figures I’ve seen say that the UK is vaccinating at about five time the rate (vaccine doses per 100) as the EU average. For all the many times the UK dropped the ball over this pandemic (and separately over Brexit), the British health systems — both NHS and private — are actually good at vaccinating people. For example, last time I visited friends in the country, I got a seasonal flu vaccine from a supermarket without an appointment.
  - dmitriid 6y ago
    Yeah. I'm currently in Sweden, and it's like living in a third-world country all over again. They are now struggling to supply proper needles for the vaccine smh
corin_ 6y ago
The UK could have chosen to take part in the EU schemes any time last year had it wanted to. Equally, any EU member state could have chosen to go their own way. The EU didn't force them to collectively bargain to (successfully) get better value deals. Maybe the EU will do a worse job distributing, but it's too early to say.
- mft_ 6y ago
  It already is doing a worse job: look at the rates of vaccination. https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations
  - corin_ 6y ago
    Yes so far but it's very early in the vaccinations. Feels equivalent to making a judgement on worst country for death toll in March last year. (As a Brit, I'm pleasantly surprised how smoothly our vaccine roll out is going so far!)
  - bojan 6y ago
    The vaccination programs are national. The Netherlands has received its vaccines from the EU, but they are being kept in storage because the national vaccination program is being slow.
    - mft_ 6y ago
      Indeed. But approval of the vaccines is centralised, and is demonstrably slower than US, UK, and others. And wasn't purchasing strategy (with heavy reliance on AZ) also centralised? [1] You think it's an anomaly that EU countries are below UK and the US (despite the publicised failure of the Trump regime to plan for this)? [1] https://www.politico.eu/article/angela-merkel-defends-joint-eu-coronavirus-vaccine-purchase-against-mounting-criticism/ https://www.politico.eu/article/angela-merkel-defends-joint-...
jonplackett 6y ago
Just in the news today that they may start withholding the Pfizer vaccine for EU countries, and since they're made in Belgium there's not a lot we can do about that.

by zpeti 6y ago

dmitriid 6y ago

> I wonder what all the EU citizens think who are not getting vaccinated because the EU thought it would play hard ball What do you mean? Current vaccination plan is 80% of population by summer, isn't it?

toyg 6y ago
Don’t feed the troll.
mft_ 6y ago
Good luck; anecdotally low risk people in Germany more likely to be towards the end of the year, unless something changes.
ben_w 6y ago
That may be the intention, and it may yet be achieved, but the most recent figures I’ve seen say that the UK is vaccinating at about five time the rate (vaccine doses per 100) as the EU average. For all the many times the UK dropped the ball over this pandemic (and separately over Brexit), the British health systems — both NHS and private — are actually good at vaccinating people. For example, last time I visited friends in the country, I got a seasonal flu vaccine from a supermarket without an appointment.
- dmitriid 6y ago
  Yeah. I'm currently in Sweden, and it's like living in a third-world country all over again. They are now struggling to supply proper needles for the vaccine smh

corin_ 6y ago

The UK could have chosen to take part in the EU schemes any time last year had it wanted to. Equally, any EU member state could have chosen to go their own way. The EU didn't force them to collectively bargain to (successfully) get better value deals. Maybe the EU will do a worse job distributing, but it's too early to say.

mft_ 6y ago
It already is doing a worse job: look at the rates of vaccination. https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations
- corin_ 6y ago
  Yes so far but it's very early in the vaccinations. Feels equivalent to making a judgement on worst country for death toll in March last year. (As a Brit, I'm pleasantly surprised how smoothly our vaccine roll out is going so far!)
- bojan 6y ago
  The vaccination programs are national. The Netherlands has received its vaccines from the EU, but they are being kept in storage because the national vaccination program is being slow.
  - mft_ 6y ago
    Indeed. But approval of the vaccines is centralised, and is demonstrably slower than US, UK, and others. And wasn't purchasing strategy (with heavy reliance on AZ) also centralised? [1] You think it's an anomaly that EU countries are below UK and the US (despite the publicised failure of the Trump regime to plan for this)? [1] https://www.politico.eu/article/angela-merkel-defends-joint-eu-coronavirus-vaccine-purchase-against-mounting-criticism/ https://www.politico.eu/article/angela-merkel-defends-joint-...

jonplackett 6y ago

Just in the news today that they may start withholding the Pfizer vaccine for EU countries, and since they're made in Belgium there's not a lot we can do about that.