4 ms·

I don't understand why: - approval timing; - contract celebration date; Has anything to do with the fact that AZ is failing to comply with it's duties. AZ i

I don't understand why: - approval timing; - contract celebration date; Has anything to do with the fact that AZ is failing to comply with it's duties. AZ isn't waiting for EU approval to start producing stock to fulfill their initial order, that makes no sense - it takes WEEKS to build stock for the goal of the 80 million doses. The stock that will be delivered, 30% of what was expected, is being produced before this approval. So this "approval process" argument makes no sense. Regarding the contract celebration date, same applies - they were expected to deliver 80 million doses in a timeframe, which they agreed upon. Why don't we do this the other way around, why don't we all be transparent and see if they are also failing to supply the UK? Because if it's supply issues, then it should be a problem of both countries no? Or they were shifting stock made in Europe to fulfill UK orders? I really hope the EU gets to the bottom of this, because it stinks.

Diggsey 6y ago
The timing matters because that's when AZ could start ramping up production. It's incredibly expensive to build new plants, and they're already doing this with no margin for profit, so they can't just do that in the hope that the EU eventually gets off its arse and decides to buy the vaccine. I mean: the EU still hasn't decided whether to even give the AZ vaccine to the most at risk people. The timeline: - The UK paid for research and development of a new vaccine. - The UK pre-ordered X amount of vaccine. - AZ began setting up facilities in the UK to manufacture X amount of vaccine - Three months later, the EU pre-orders Y amount of vaccine. - AZ begins setting up EU plants to produce Y amount of vaccine. If you check the contract, the EU specifically says that the plants must be built in the EU, and that AZ would need special permission to use UK plants, so of course AZ are not going to reserve extra capacity in the UK for this contract. - The EU plants suffered problems ramping up production, in large part because the shorter schedule set by the EU. The provisioning for the EU contract has nothing to do with the prior UK contract. There's nothing that "stinks" here, only poor planning on behalf of the EU bureaucracy and a sprinkle of bad luck. Had the EU not stipulated that the plants be built in the EU, AZ would have likely been able to provision more capacity more quickly. Had the EU placed their order earlier, there would have been more time for AZ to resolve the issues in the EU plants. Had the EU responded to the drop in production by asking for assistance from the UK, or by attempting to assist AZ, instead of throwing its weight around, I would have a lot more sympathy. The EU, in its slowness to react, has actively harmed its member nations, and is now looking for a scapegoat (AZ) to blame to avoid the repurcussions.
- libertine 6y ago
  What you're missing in your time line is that the first AZ vaccines that fulfilled UK orders were produced in Europe, namely in Germany and Netherlands. So the UK is getting orders from EU, and from the UK, and the EU should sit and watch a company not complying to their duties while the block production capacity is being used to fulfill orders for USA, UK, Isreal, and many other parts of the world... While the UK and USA have their production capacity only for themselves AND still get production from Europe. To top that off AZ is failing to fulfill EU orders because they are using EU capacity to deliver to UK? Basically USA and UK want all production for themselves AND also production from other countries, while everyone else should sit and watch because the concept of "best effort" only applies if it's not failing the UK contract. So something isn't adding up here, and yes, it fucking stinks. I hope they block all vaccines exports until EU deadlines/stock is replentished.
  - Diggsey 6y ago
    > What you're missing in your time line is that the first AZ vaccines that fulfilled UK orders were produced in Europe, namely in Germany and Netherlands. First, that was only the initial vaccines. All vaccines since then were produced entirely within the UK. Second, the UK paid for the development of those vaccines, the EU did not. Without the UK funding and the collaboration with Oxford, AZ was not even planning to develop its own vaccine variant, and so those facilities would not have been producing any vaccine at all. > While the UK and USA have their production capacity only for themselves AND still get production from Europe. As mentioned, the UK and USA paid to develop these products. The EU is expecting everyone else to pay the cost of development, and then just get the vaccine at cost when it arrives, and still have priority? > So something isn't adding up here, and yes, it fucking stinks. I hope they block all vaccines exports until EU deadlines/stock is replentished. Good luck with that. All the vaccine manufacturers are suffering shortfalls, and the UK is not reliant on exports from the EU. I hope that further vaccine production goes to countries that didn't have the economic means to build their own vaccine supply, rather than those too short-sighted to build one.
    - libertine 6y ago

Diggsey 6y ago

The timing matters because that's when AZ could start ramping up production. It's incredibly expensive to build new plants, and they're already doing this with no margin for profit, so they can't just do that in the hope that the EU eventually gets off its arse and decides to buy the vaccine. I mean: the EU still hasn't decided whether to even give the AZ vaccine to the most at risk people. The timeline: - The UK paid for research and development of a new vaccine. - The UK pre-ordered X amount of vaccine. - AZ began setting up facilities in the UK to manufacture X amount of vaccine - Three months later, the EU pre-orders Y amount of vaccine. - AZ begins setting up EU plants to produce Y amount of vaccine. If you check the contract, the EU specifically says that the plants must be built in the EU, and that AZ would need special permission to use UK plants, so of course AZ are not going to reserve extra capacity in the UK for this contract. - The EU plants suffered problems ramping up production, in large part because the shorter schedule set by the EU. The provisioning for the EU contract has nothing to do with the prior UK contract. There's nothing that "stinks" here, only poor planning on behalf of the EU bureaucracy and a sprinkle of bad luck. Had the EU not stipulated that the plants be built in the EU, AZ would have likely been able to provision more capacity more quickly. Had the EU placed their order earlier, there would have been more time for AZ to resolve the issues in the EU plants. Had the EU responded to the drop in production by asking for assistance from the UK, or by attempting to assist AZ, instead of throwing its weight around, I would have a lot more sympathy. The EU, in its slowness to react, has actively harmed its member nations, and is now looking for a scapegoat (AZ) to blame to avoid the repurcussions.

libertine 6y ago
What you're missing in your time line is that the first AZ vaccines that fulfilled UK orders were produced in Europe, namely in Germany and Netherlands. So the UK is getting orders from EU, and from the UK, and the EU should sit and watch a company not complying to their duties while the block production capacity is being used to fulfill orders for USA, UK, Isreal, and many other parts of the world... While the UK and USA have their production capacity only for themselves AND still get production from Europe. To top that off AZ is failing to fulfill EU orders because they are using EU capacity to deliver to UK? Basically USA and UK want all production for themselves AND also production from other countries, while everyone else should sit and watch because the concept of "best effort" only applies if it's not failing the UK contract. So something isn't adding up here, and yes, it fucking stinks. I hope they block all vaccines exports until EU deadlines/stock is replentished.
- Diggsey 6y ago
  > What you're missing in your time line is that the first AZ vaccines that fulfilled UK orders were produced in Europe, namely in Germany and Netherlands. First, that was only the initial vaccines. All vaccines since then were produced entirely within the UK. Second, the UK paid for the development of those vaccines, the EU did not. Without the UK funding and the collaboration with Oxford, AZ was not even planning to develop its own vaccine variant, and so those facilities would not have been producing any vaccine at all. > While the UK and USA have their production capacity only for themselves AND still get production from Europe. As mentioned, the UK and USA paid to develop these products. The EU is expecting everyone else to pay the cost of development, and then just get the vaccine at cost when it arrives, and still have priority? > So something isn't adding up here, and yes, it fucking stinks. I hope they block all vaccines exports until EU deadlines/stock is replentished. Good luck with that. All the vaccine manufacturers are suffering shortfalls, and the UK is not reliant on exports from the EU. I hope that further vaccine production goes to countries that didn't have the economic means to build their own vaccine supply, rather than those too short-sighted to build one.
  - libertine 6y ago