4 ms·

That is just not true: - The contract clearly states that AZ can produce outside the EU, the comission just has to agree. Since AZ tried to get doses from the

by danhor 5y ago

That is just not true: - The contract clearly states that AZ can produce outside the EU, the comission just has to agree. Since AZ tried to get doses from the US & India, it's very likely that wouldn't have been a problem. You can also see on Schedule A, that parts of the allowed sites for the initial doses for the EU were in the UK. - The Belgian plant is producing fully (contrary to what was claimed by the CEO, see https://www.politico.eu/article/belgian-plant-blamed-for-astrazeneca-vaccine-shortage-says-it-met-all-deliveries/ https://www.politico.eu/article/belgian-plant-blamed-for-ast...) - The Halix plant was only intended for use for the UK (see: https://www.politico.eu/article/after-failing-to-deliver-astrazeneca-rethinks-eu-coronavirus-vaccine-supply-chain/ https://www.politico.eu/article/after-failing-to-deliver-ast...) and it was later on decided to use it just for EU supply. Furthermore, the manufacturing agreement was only signed at the beginning of December (https://www.halix.nl/2020/12/08/halix-signs-agreement-astrazeneca-commercial-manufacture-covid-19-vaccine/ https://www.halix.nl/2020/12/08/halix-signs-agreement-astraz...) This just seems like AZ just ... didn't contract enough companies to even remotely archive the numbers they promised for Q1 (and now Q2). I don't know what their thinking was, but hopefully this lawsuit will be able to shed some light on that.

youngtaff 5y ago
The U.K. invested £21m into the Halix plant in April 2020 https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/british-taxpayers-funded-eu-factory-at-heart-of-vaccine-row/ar-BB1fdzpE https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/british-taxpayers-fund... I think the main difference between the U.K. and EUs approaches is that the U.K. were willing to accept some vaccines would fail and other succeed but were willing to accept the loses Even AZ production in the U.K. is below what was expected
- danhor 5y ago
  The investment doesn't seem very clear-cut[1]: "[W]hen I went to visit the site and I asked how much they’re received from the British government, the chairman and the CEO were there and they told me ‘zero’.". It could be money just given to Oxford, to support Halix, but I have no idea. > I think the main difference between the U.K. and EUs approaches is that the U.K. were willing to accept some vaccines would fail and other succeed but were willing to accept the loses That doesn't seem to be the case. Both have reasonably diversified sources and have bought much more than needed (at the end of 2020, 246% EU & 419% UK according to https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/12/03/942303736/how-rich-countries-are-hoarding-the-worlds-vaccines-in-charts https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/12/03/9423037...). Both (currently) rely on the same vaccines (AZ, moderna, BT & J&J), with the uk having ordered primarily AZ, Valneva, Sanofi, Novavax & Curevac vaccines and of the vaccines currently used, the EU has bought more per capita (current data, BT was probably less), except AZ. So it seems (at least in hindsight) that the uk was lucky AZ worked out, otherwise the doses of the currently used vaccines wouldn't have been enough (barely, approx 58 Million people fully vaccinated), while the EU has more than enough doses (630 Million people fully vaccinated) [2]. (of course, that would have been sufficient for vaccinating everyone that wants to & is able to in the uk). The spread seems to have been wide enough in both countries. I can't find anything resembling a delivery schedule or doses delivered for the UK, but I assume, based on ~90 Million doses given out in the UK, of which at most 31 Millionen doses were BT (assuming all fully vaccinated people have BT and all remaining doses need to be used for a second vaccination), AZ has delivered more than 60% of the contracted doses, while that count currently stands at approx. 12% for the EU (germany currently has received 6.8 Million and they get a fifth). That's a huge difference. (I'm assuming the moderna doses given out in the uk are currently negligible) [1]: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/vaccine-tsar-says-eu-will-get-astrazeneca-doses-over-which-uk-made-claim-1.4532523 https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/vaccine-tsar-sa... [2]: https://launchandscalefaster.org/covid-19/vaccineprocurement https://launchandscalefaster.org/covid-19/vaccineprocurement
  - youngtaff 5y ago
    Dutch news sites report the investment happened - https://nos.nl/artikel/2374705-nederland-liep-kans-op-miljoenen-oxford-vaccins-mis.html https://nos.nl/artikel/2374705-nederland-liep-kans-op-miljoe... - but it's not clear where the investment came from. Ultimately Thierry Breton was a politician under pressure so I suspect he chose his words carefully – it can be both correct that the money didn't come directly from the UK government but also be true that the UK invested in the plant - his goal was to undermine any claim the UK might have on the output of the plant This is an interesting interview with Kate Bingham on how she approached getting vaccines for the UK - https://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2021/02/07/news/kate_bingham_interview_vaccines_covid_astrazeneca_uk_coronavirus_johnson-286384093/ https://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2021/02/07/news/kate_bingh... And the delivery issues in the UK are well documented - https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-britain-astrazenec-idUKKBN27K2GU https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-britai..., I've seen more recent reports than this too
  - danhor 5y ago
    The last part isn't accurate, less than 50 million doses were given out, so the rest doesn't pan out either. I probably doubled the doses somewhere along the way out of habit (2 doses for a full vaccination).

by danhor 5y ago

youngtaff 5y ago

The U.K. invested £21m into the Halix plant in April 2020 https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/british-taxpayers-funded-eu-factory-at-heart-of-vaccine-row/ar-BB1fdzpE https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/british-taxpayers-fund... I think the main difference between the U.K. and EUs approaches is that the U.K. were willing to accept some vaccines would fail and other succeed but were willing to accept the loses Even AZ production in the U.K. is below what was expected

danhor 5y ago
The investment doesn't seem very clear-cut[1]: "[W]hen I went to visit the site and I asked how much they’re received from the British government, the chairman and the CEO were there and they told me ‘zero’.". It could be money just given to Oxford, to support Halix, but I have no idea. > I think the main difference between the U.K. and EUs approaches is that the U.K. were willing to accept some vaccines would fail and other succeed but were willing to accept the loses That doesn't seem to be the case. Both have reasonably diversified sources and have bought much more than needed (at the end of 2020, 246% EU & 419% UK according to https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/12/03/942303736/how-rich-countries-are-hoarding-the-worlds-vaccines-in-charts https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/12/03/9423037...). Both (currently) rely on the same vaccines (AZ, moderna, BT & J&J), with the uk having ordered primarily AZ, Valneva, Sanofi, Novavax & Curevac vaccines and of the vaccines currently used, the EU has bought more per capita (current data, BT was probably less), except AZ. So it seems (at least in hindsight) that the uk was lucky AZ worked out, otherwise the doses of the currently used vaccines wouldn't have been enough (barely, approx 58 Million people fully vaccinated), while the EU has more than enough doses (630 Million people fully vaccinated) [2]. (of course, that would have been sufficient for vaccinating everyone that wants to & is able to in the uk). The spread seems to have been wide enough in both countries. I can't find anything resembling a delivery schedule or doses delivered for the UK, but I assume, based on ~90 Million doses given out in the UK, of which at most 31 Millionen doses were BT (assuming all fully vaccinated people have BT and all remaining doses need to be used for a second vaccination), AZ has delivered more than 60% of the contracted doses, while that count currently stands at approx. 12% for the EU (germany currently has received 6.8 Million and they get a fifth). That's a huge difference. (I'm assuming the moderna doses given out in the uk are currently negligible) [1]: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/vaccine-tsar-says-eu-will-get-astrazeneca-doses-over-which-uk-made-claim-1.4532523 https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/vaccine-tsar-sa... [2]: https://launchandscalefaster.org/covid-19/vaccineprocurement https://launchandscalefaster.org/covid-19/vaccineprocurement
- youngtaff 5y ago
  Dutch news sites report the investment happened - https://nos.nl/artikel/2374705-nederland-liep-kans-op-miljoenen-oxford-vaccins-mis.html https://nos.nl/artikel/2374705-nederland-liep-kans-op-miljoe... - but it's not clear where the investment came from. Ultimately Thierry Breton was a politician under pressure so I suspect he chose his words carefully – it can be both correct that the money didn't come directly from the UK government but also be true that the UK invested in the plant - his goal was to undermine any claim the UK might have on the output of the plant This is an interesting interview with Kate Bingham on how she approached getting vaccines for the UK - https://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2021/02/07/news/kate_bingham_interview_vaccines_covid_astrazeneca_uk_coronavirus_johnson-286384093/ https://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2021/02/07/news/kate_bingh... And the delivery issues in the UK are well documented - https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-britain-astrazenec-idUKKBN27K2GU https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-britai..., I've seen more recent reports than this too
- danhor 5y ago
  The last part isn't accurate, less than 50 million doses were given out, so the rest doesn't pan out either. I probably doubled the doses somewhere along the way out of habit (2 doses for a full vaccination).