The EU are on a collision course with the UK over vaccines.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Half of adults in the UK now have antibodies. That's fantastic news.

Oh here we are, making stuff up about the French again. Here's some facts:

Tests per million people in Germany: 563,000 (total 49 million tests)

Tests per million people in France: 976,000 (total 64 million tests)

www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

In the UK you can go for a test free of charge.

In France you can go for a test without symptoms free of charge. My granddaughters did this before seeing me at Christmas

Thanks Ellianne. No wonder their cases are rising if they’re only testing serious cases.It’s a bit like us at the beginning when we weren’t testing properly. They can’t have any idea of the true numbers, which a year in is pretty dire.

maddyone

I think France has a much higher daily infection rate. Anyone know what it is?

The figures in France are on a par with those of Germany maddyone.
The problem is in the testing because in France they prefer to say they only test serious cases for infection, whereas Germany likes to test everyone.
Therefore you are right, France could have a much higher infection rate.

The partner of our eldest daughter has a German mother & grandmother. His ‘omi’ is 94y and he hasn’t seen her for months and is desperate to go over. It’s very sad for them all.

Their citizens must be extremely worried.

I think France has a much higher daily infection rate. Anyone know what it is?

Worrying news:

Germany recorded 9,872 new infections in 24 hours yesterday compared with 7,709 a week ago.

That’s a good,balanced article Gannygangan. I think there is also a level of mistrust of the vaccine which doesn’t help. There is here, too though they are finally rolling it out now. We had ours on Saturday, no ill effects so far at least.

Off to bed now, delighted with today’s events!

This little Island and it’s cost price vaccines could be the saviour for so many poor countries around the globe.

Once we can, that is where our production capacity needs to be delivered. Not rich EU countries that would just take if they could.

We are playing on a global stage now so let’s bring the house down.

Ah if he’s 83y with a carer he must take slight precedence I expect over my friend because although she is 85y she is totally self caring and does not take even on form of drug! Amazingly healthy, just an anxious last. Thanks mancgirl another positive anecdote to share with her soon!

Urmston my 82 year old neighbour in Spain had his jab last week. His wife who is 73 and his carer was told she would have to wait a while yet but at least we are hearing about more being vaccinated.

Wow Gannygangan that was a very interesting read! It explains a lot.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-55844268

This article explains what went wrong.

It certainly had nothing to do with the UK taking some wild risk.

The UK did not wait for full approval the way the EU did

That's not why there was a delay!

Rosie51

Katie59 The UK jumped the gun on the safety checks - we took a risk, balancing the risk of side effects against more deaths from virus.

The UK did not jump the gun on the safety checks, it analysed the trial data and gave approval, the exact same data that the rest of Europe had and used to give approval, and to say otherwise is a gross slur on our scientists.

The UK did not wait for full approval the way the EU did, all vaccinations carry a risk, the UK regulators were satisfied it was safe.
End of, the rest is history.

That’s great news GG13 I will tell my friend when we speak in the week. She too has Spanish citizenship for years.

Thank you for sharing.

Katie59 The UK jumped the gun on the safety checks - we took a risk, balancing the risk of side effects against more deaths from virus.

The UK did not jump the gun on the safety checks, it analysed the trial data and gave approval, the exact same data that the rest of Europe had and used to give approval, and to say otherwise is a gross slur on our scientists.

Urmstongran our dear family friend is getting his (Fuengirola) tomorrow he is 81. His wife is 79 no idea when she will get hers. They both have had Spanish citizenship.

Sorry to hear that sodapop it must be very stressful for you and your husband (and many others I expect) right now. I hope the situation improves for you soon. My friend in Spain still hasn’t heard about a jab and she is 85y and a very anxious lady at the best of times.

On a more positive note - Boris has discussed sharing Covid-19 vaccines with Ireland with Northern Ireland’s First Minister, it has emerged, as she described the proposals as a “runner”.

Arlene Foster said she was “hopeful” that the UK would begin sharing jabs with the Republic once it began to build up a surplus of doses, confirming that she had raised the idea during their recent discussions.

This I think will be good on the island of Ireland. Makes great sense I think.

I live in France too Mamie and it has been very difficult trying to get an appointment for vaccination. I managed to get one for my husband who has cancer, a round trip of over an hour to get to the clinic. I am 74 and have an appt next month.
There have been open clinics where you could just turn up and be vaccinated but not for our age group.
In small rural villages like ours people have been arriving from Paris and other large cities despite confinement.

I do have to say the French health services in our area have continued to function and treat people who need it for things other than Covid.

The EU has proved too unwieldy to deal with a crisis like this, I'm hoping "lessons will be learned".

We sure are nimble. I’m so happy to hear this news! Good for the NE area. Some of that ‘levelling up’.

It took the EU much longer to agree deals with Sanofi and Novartis to bottle the Pfizer vaccine and those plants aren't going to be operational until July. Reading between the lines, we signed this agreement in about 7-10 days and it's going to be operational in just over a month...