3 ms·

Hundreds of millions of dollars? Not even a billion dollars was set aside for vaccines as trillions of dollars are being lost?

simonh 6y ago
That's just one vaccine, there are half a dozen that have resulted in usable products, and many, many more that didn't pan out.
foepys 6y ago
That's what many people are getting mad about. Germany wanted to order from Biontech in July 2020 but the EU convinced them to let the EU order for a better "collective bargaining position". But this isn't the time to bargain. Just pay them a few billion Euros. Germany alone is estimated to be currently subsidizing its shut-down economy with around 4 billion Euros a week. Each week is more expensive than what the EU was willing to pay for advanced orders: 2.7 billion.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- estaseuropano 6y ago
  This was not the EU pushing, rather the smaller countries were scared that they'd be left out and thus put pressure on the German government to agree to do it jointly. That said, the main source for the story tha the negotiations were advanced is the German health minister who has skin in the game and reason to try and assign the blame elsewhere...
  - vinay427 6y ago
    It was the EU pushing for the Commission to negotiate even though it was clear the Inclusive Vaccine Alliance (IVA) composed of the four countries were planning to supply all member states. There are multiple sources on this deal including the official AZ press release, although the harsher criticism of the Commission's role is from Spahn as you say. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-vaccines-idUSKBN23K0HW https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-vaccin... https://www.astrazeneca.com/media-centre/press-releases/2020/astrazeneca-to-supply-europe-with-up-to-400-million-doses-of-oxford-universitys-vaccine-at-no-profit.html https://www.astrazeneca.com/media-centre/press-releases/2020... https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/europe-s-vaccine-disaster-commission-president-ursula-von-der-leyen-seeking-to-duck-responsibility-a-1197547d-6219-4438-9d69-b76e64701802 https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/europe-s-vaccine...
- Gravityloss 6y ago
  Just paying more to get further in the queue is not a good solution. That's just a zero sum game. What is better is removing all obstacles from the vaccine mass production scaling.

simonh 6y ago

That's just one vaccine, there are half a dozen that have resulted in usable products, and many, many more that didn't pan out.

foepys 6y ago

That's what many people are getting mad about. Germany wanted to order from Biontech in July 2020 but the EU convinced them to let the EU order for a better "collective bargaining position". But this isn't the time to bargain. Just pay them a few billion Euros. Germany alone is estimated to be currently subsidizing its shut-down economy with around 4 billion Euros a week. Each week is more expensive than what the EU was willing to pay for advanced orders: 2.7 billion.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
estaseuropano 6y ago
This was not the EU pushing, rather the smaller countries were scared that they'd be left out and thus put pressure on the German government to agree to do it jointly. That said, the main source for the story tha the negotiations were advanced is the German health minister who has skin in the game and reason to try and assign the blame elsewhere...
- vinay427 6y ago
  It was the EU pushing for the Commission to negotiate even though it was clear the Inclusive Vaccine Alliance (IVA) composed of the four countries were planning to supply all member states. There are multiple sources on this deal including the official AZ press release, although the harsher criticism of the Commission's role is from Spahn as you say. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-vaccines-idUSKBN23K0HW https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-vaccin... https://www.astrazeneca.com/media-centre/press-releases/2020/astrazeneca-to-supply-europe-with-up-to-400-million-doses-of-oxford-universitys-vaccine-at-no-profit.html https://www.astrazeneca.com/media-centre/press-releases/2020... https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/europe-s-vaccine-disaster-commission-president-ursula-von-der-leyen-seeking-to-duck-responsibility-a-1197547d-6219-4438-9d69-b76e64701802 https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/europe-s-vaccine...
Gravityloss 6y ago
Just paying more to get further in the queue is not a good solution. That's just a zero sum game. What is better is removing all obstacles from the vaccine mass production scaling.