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This is a good point, and Pfizer's vaccine isn't the only example. Janssen, the JnJ subsidiary, is headquartered in Belgium. All of these companies have researc

This is a good point, and Pfizer's vaccine isn't the only example. Janssen, the JnJ subsidiary, is headquartered in Belgium. All of these companies have researchers who hail from and work in other countries... None of the major vaccines would have been possible without international cooperation for sequencing, development, and testing....and the virus doesn't check your passport before it enters your cells. Ultimately issues like competing contractual obligations can get ugly, fast. But aggressive vaccine nationalism can impede the kind of international collaboration that is necessary to produce enough product to inoculate everyone who wants a shot.

pgeorgi 6y ago
> Ultimately issues like competing contractual obligations can get ugly, fast. But aggressive vaccine nationalism can impede the kind of international collaboration that is necessary to produce enough product to inoculate everyone who wants a shot. Normally vaccine exports are no problem for the EU, originally there wasn't even the mechanism that is now used to block that one shipment. Given all the circumstances (various vaccine exports still going on, Australia having a pretty calm Covid situation right now and starting production of their own AZ vaccine this month) I wonder if that shipment was deliberately chosen as a statement to get AZ to stop playing games while minimizing the impact it has on global efforts. (or maybe I'm giving bureaucrats too much credit) Of course a heads-up notice to Australia would have been nice if that was the case.