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

For goodness sake, M Macron had the benefit of seeing what happened in the UK with the Kent mutant strain. But he did nothing in France.
He had the benefit of seeing how effective the vaccine roll out was in the UK. But he did nothing in France, just made matters worse.
He will be speaking on French TV on Wednesday evening. Sounds like a lockdown will be on the cards. Just as the UK comes out.

Poor France. The situation there sounds terrifying.

We’re going straight into the wall,” warned Catherine Hill, doyenne of French epidemiologists. “We’re already saturated and it’s become totally untenable. We can no longer take in non-Covid patients, it is completely mad.”

Prof Hill told Radio France Info today that Mr Macron’s policy of playing for time is nothing less than a “death strategy”.

There was a lovely little letter in the Times yesterday, about the EU and the vaccine - IIRC ‘a case of wanting to have your cake, but not wanting to eat it.’

Thanks Casdon, that's really interesting

Thank you for that interesting analysis Casdon. I read somewhere that if all the vaccines that had come to the UK had gone to EU countries, we would have been slowed down by two months and the EU would have benefitted by about a week.

I feel heart sorry for the individuals in EU countries who are not getting their vaccines, I have many friends there who are affected by this. But as many people have said on here before, the UK has one of the highest death rates in the world and so its actually us who needs a way out quickest.

We're doing well with the vaccine rollout, credit where its due, and we don't need any spanners in the works.

Isn’t it the case that despite all the efforts vaccine cannot be made fast enough to meet demand, as Casdon pointed out if all the UK vaccine had gone to the EU it would still have only covered a fraction of the population.

This is 100% EU trying to blame others for their own incompetence.

I find this hard to believe. I was speaking to my friend in France two days ago. He and his wife, both in their fifties, have been vaccinated. They have had the Oxford AZ vaccine and got it earlier because they left their details with the local vaccine centre, who gave them a call when people hadn’t turned up and they received the leftover vaccine.

Maybe if Macron hadn’t rubbished the Oxford vaccine there would have been a much higher take up. He has s lot to answer for.

I thought I’d look into this in a bit more detail. The EU population is 446 million, with 27.9% over 65 according to Wikipedia, so there are approximately 160 million of them. The UK has vaccinated 31m over 50s with one dose, of which 2.8m have had two doses so far. The % fully vaccinated in the UK is similar to France, Germany and Italy at about 4% of the population. There is a disparity in vaccine supply due to the different contractual arrangements, but in reality if UK had not vaccinated anybody and all those doses had gone to the EU, it would still be a drop in the ocean in terms of the EU requirements (15.5m more people over 65 across the EU approx would be fully vaccinated).
The supply problem for the EU is much greater than the fact that the UK negotiated better contracts with the suppliers, as we are small fry compared to their needs. Knowing this doesn’t help the population of the EU get vaccinated quicker, it’s a very sad situation.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

mokryna

As an English person I am very sad that the people in the UK will not help older or sick people in the EU or other places.

As a human being I feel very sad that people running the EU will not help older or sick people in the EU or other places....

As an English person I am very sad that the people in the UK will not help older or sick people in the EU or other places.

I really don't know whether to be amused, outraged or saddened by the EU's behaviour.

Probably saddened, as the people of Europe are suffering because of the EU.

We have had to wait about six weeks here in France - there also seem to be different methods of getting appointments for the vaccine. We managed to be added to the hospitals waiting list and were called about ten days ago and given both appointments. I have seen reports that some vaccine centres are refusing to do people who have not got the second appointment date.
The other news here is how the current virus is far more dangerous to children - reports of them dying.

Friends and acquaintances in France are despairing.

The Eu agreed a deal with AZ for 120 million vaccine doses and AZ now only want to deliver something like 30 million. That is the basis of the problem I believe. There were several discussions about it on TV yesterday.
We had our first doses today of the Pfizer vaccine - we had to go to our nearest hospital. Our second dose is due in one month as recommended by the manufacturers.
There were retired doctors and nurses working alongside younger people organising the delivery. The staff have been vaccinated with the AZ vaccine.

Me too Pantglas my friend & neighbour in Malaga rang me this afternoon. No sign of any vaccine appointment there. She is 85y and her friend is 83y.

I’m saddened it’s come to this as I have a couple of friends in Greece and lots in Spain who are in their late seventies and they haven’t been offered their first jab yet.

UvdL said the EU “had received 88m vaccines from its factories since December”

She thinks the factories all belong to the EU. Newsflash - they don’t! They’re owned by the companies that built them, and that have signed contracts saying where doses are to be sent. Ripping up legal contracts to prevent exports is definitely a hostile act....

The UK (and others) have a legal contract with a COMPANY not the EU!

Totally agree GG13. ?

We are not dependent on the EU for the vaccines as UvdL suggests, we are depending on those companies domiciled in the EU to fulfil their contractural obligations.

It is just the same with Smith Klein their presence in Worthing to tiny to what it was.

All gone to Europe as soon as they saw the writing in the wall.

So many highly skilled jobs lost.

Pfizer does have a presence in Sandwich but it is tiny to what it used to be. About 10 years a go it closed its R&D and other bits and reduced its staff by 2k. There are a few hundred left now but it is nothing like it used to be.

It is a huge site and is largely now let to other businesses.

vegansrock

I don’t know about the other plants you mentioned GG13 but Pfizer left Sandwich in 2019 with the loss of 2000 jobs.https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/sandwich-small-kent-town-forced-3552067.amp

Pfizer.co.uk just a short paragraph from their active website this morning.

Pfizers presence at Discovery Park (Sandwich, Kent) is as diverse as the company itself, with over 800 scientists, technicians, regulatory professionals and business experts all working towards creating life-changing medicines for patients

I don’t know about the other plants you mentioned GG13 but Pfizer left Sandwich in 2019 with the loss of 2000 jobs.https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/sandwich-small-kent-town-forced-3552067.amp

Pantglas