See reply to Waylander. Its not about margin on this vaccine which is zero, its about their rep with the EU country payersā¦ If AZ fail to fulfil it will impact on their long term relationships with key EU marketsā¦ for many of their other products when it comes to price an reimbursement negotiation or tendering and contract on older productsā¦
The EU are not going to hold up another product which could be a life saver
Sorry folks that your father has to die but it is very important that we teach these very naughty English people a lesson
Itās not a good look
Sorry CBā¦ this is the area I work inā¦its not about holding up product, its about what price and reimbursement restrictions may applyā¦ supply and fulfilment criteria are a critical part of those negotiationsā¦ AZ will have a choiceā¦ support a customer with 300mil people who pay more for your products or one that typically makes it much harder for access to and demands lower pricesā¦
A key saying in pharmaceutical market access is that you dont get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate and its seem time and again in what price and reimbursement levels different companies get for similar products
Well NICE (UK) Do that much more often than most EU countries, mush greater restrictions and much lower pricesā¦ we may see this sticking it to Big Pharma, but reality is we tend to get access to ālife-savingā products 2-3 years AFTER the other G8 markets, because there is less willingness to payā¦
I think the EU have just realised this
They hold a few more aces than we doā¦
Last time I looked the factories (at least the ones that work) were this side of the channel
It made in umpteen different factoriesā¦ so depends really. And AZ as piviate company will make their own commercial decisions, unless Government interfereā¦ and that would be rather controversialā¦
Isnāt that exactly what the EU āgovernmentā are doing?
No more so that the EU demanding that AZ breach their contract with the UK and supply the EU from vaccines produced in the UK or threatening to prevent the export of Pfizer jabs to the UK
UKs supply will come from the UK factories. The EU was supposed to come from EU factories. The idea was to prevent countries squabbling over supply
The EU remind me of those seagulls in Finding Nemo
I presume AZ will pull out all the other contracts India, UAE, USA etc and ask the EU which Nation they should reduce the supply to
Its never that simple thoughā¦ contracts wonāt be nulled by which factory the supply is from, nor does which contact was signed first give you any advantageā¦ AZ boardroom might be quite an interesting place right now. There will be a lot to commercial and access managers in local EU affiliates who look after the AZ portfolio locally watching with nervous interest as their jobs may be about to get a lot more difficultā¦ its the way this shit works
Uhmā¦ I suspect its going to be a shitstormā¦ because demand was always going to outstrip manufacturing capacity and supply chain integrity. Add to that the whole national jingoism and its a shitfest waiting to happen. ā¦ who is more deserving? Should a 50 year old in France or UK get it before an 80 year old in Spain, simply because of commercial decisions or Government interference with manufacturing plants? Depend on your point of view, but I do wonder how different it would be if it was not the 80+ who were most vulnerable, but the under 10s?
This was never going to be a fair and ethical distribution, but the fact we are already bitching about it between us and the EU (howling before The Sun or the Mail go all āwarā on us againā¦yawn) is a sadly indicative of the selfishness of so called western democraciesā¦
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To be honest I find the pathetic jingoism at a time like this sickening. And itās all coming from our side, just wait for the headlines in the Mail, Express and Sun tomorrow, look at some of it on here. The EU stealing our vaccines etc, positively reveling in it. This was a commercial contract, with the EU investing 336 million Euros in AstraZenica in return for 400 million doses of itās vaccine, the first 100 million to be delivered by April. Now the company are saying that only 25% will be delivered. The EU, not unreasonably, are insisting the company honour the terms of the contract. According to the EU, under itās contract with AstraZenica, four European plants were named as suppliers and two of them were based in the UK. AstraZenica,(the Oxford prefix was dropped weeks ago), is a commercial multi-national business and will behave like one in the real commercial world, quietly dropping the Oxford prefix once it had served itās purpose speaks volumes.
All this jingoism and for many, their idea of patriotism is expressed as openly displayed delight at other European nationalities problems, is not a good look in the wider world. But it will be kept running for as long as possible, the ardent Brexiters have seized on it like a dog on a postmanās leg and will be reluctant to let go. Because, after barely a month it has been nothing but bad news on the Brexit front, the lies and false promises quickly unraveling and being exposed as the bullshit they always were. Itās the first bit of good news the leavers have had,(in their eyes, which speaks volumes as well), and they will grab it gratefully.
This is a life threatening pandemic, all countries should be working together to defeat it. You canāt fight a Global pandemic nationally, with nationalism. Only a fool would believe that.
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Its difficult not to get morally confused by it all. My wife is 48 and is in remission from Breast cancer. She will likely be offered a dose next month as a priority. I am 52 although no adonis, a fair bit overweight and with my own as yet undiagnosed ailments, in rude health, butā¦ all things being equal, I should get a vaccination slot April/May, but there will be old folks and folks with cancer and other diseases in other countries who wont, even within the EU
Of course social injustices have been there for years and like most ālucky folksā with a good job etc, I tend not to think about it in that depth, despite wearing my social conscience on me sleevesā¦ But this has hit home. Maybe its because of the clear prioritisation that forces us to acknowledge the vulnerable that little bit more? Its why when I read about Tory MPs jumping the queue, it really is quite sickening.
I will take my dose when its offered, and like a hypocrite that I am will no doubt spout some self righteous stuff that even though I should be behind the old folks who aint getting it just because of some commercial contract or supply issues or they live in a poor countryā¦ that its about seeing my family safe.
Then maybe I will think about the hypocrisy that how is this any different from other diseases, or the millions of poor kids dying each day from lack of vaccines that we have had for years? In some respects I hope I do sleep less easy at nightā¦ fuck, what world do we live in when the EU and UK are fighting about a privileged statusā¦ and 5bn folks wont get this stuff for 2 years or ever?
Just depresses the hell out of me.
Unsurprisingly, I do often get asked about why I am so wedded to the EU, when its clearly fucked and corrupt (as any institution that creates opportunity does - witness Tories filing their PPE boots)? Well there are number of reasons, some very pragmatic, but the ones that I aint afraid of of saying is that its only through greater integration, single policies on the environment, on social justice, on looking to get poor nations that bit further up the rung, that we fight social injustice and prevent extremists (especially on the right) gain a foothold. My critics will no doubt point to then rise of the right in Germany etc, but this has only been since reunification and despite the best efforts, the remaining social challenges in the former eastā¦ same as the BNP and other right wing views became more appealing to the disenfranchised North after 10 years of austerity.
Sorry getting carried away, but i cant help feel, that if we want to be GREAT BRITAIN in the true sense of the word, using our power and influence to remove the corrupt shite from the commission and driving through policies that were fairer and more inclusive, would have taken the EU a step in the right direction. But we chose IMHO a more selfish and easy route. And the jingoism you highlight its sadly just a symptom of it.
I am pleased that around 64% of labour supporters were Remain, despite more deep routed principles maybe suggesting more localised government is more empoweringā¦ but I am more in the green camp thereā¦ greater international integration on environment, economic policy, defence etc, with more decentralised control over budget for local issuesā¦
Bollocks, rabbiting on.
As idealistic as it sounds, its not naive, because I know it was unlikely given the preoccupations and self interest of those with influenceā¦ but the whole COVID 19 thing has shown in reality we can puff our chests out and sing Jerusalem al we like, but a virus dont give a fuck about borders and well its one hell of a fucking unifierā¦ only it sadly appears it not.
Depressed in Fife
Aged 51 and 1/4
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Oh stop being so reasonable about it all 
(ā¦Sits back in comfy chair to chuckle at the inevitable responses to your post)
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It will be like Sotonian bingoā¦ 
ā¦will have to wait as going to bed as been working since 2.30am ā¦ fucked 
I think that ship has sailed. 
China rolls out anal swab tests for high-risk COVID-19 cases (ibtimes.co.uk)
I canāt wait to see how they adapt the drive thru test centres
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