Macron and the AZ vaccine

I think this is made up. I call BS.

I can't say who I heard it from, because I'd have to shoot you afterwards, but my hairdresser's cousin's dog's groomer thinks the EU hate us.

My brother is a scientist he told me that Macron is actually made of cheese.

I can assure you that I have not made it up, Alegrias1. I am not a liar who would have invented such a story, and neither is my very much anti-Brexit dd.

Though I dare say I should have expected some replies like this.

Might also add that I voted Remain, but I dare say some GNers will think I’m lying about that, too.

I didn't mean you had made it up. I meant the whole saga is unbelievable. Except by the credulous, clearly.

Galaxy - camembert? It wouldn't be Cheddar, would it. Mais non! Fromage français, bien sûr.

Its 5 steps removed already witzend so it is difficult to take it seriously. It's not a case of lying it's more that he heard/ she heard isnt usually reliable.

I can’t give details, since they’d be outing, but the other day a dd told me that through work, she’d been in contact with a man in a very senior role, who said he'd heard that Boris Johnson likes to torture kittens, is going to ban mattresses and is setting up a scheme to give grants to people who breed wasps.

I don’t think it was just Macron. It was never in the interest of the big pharmaceutical companies to have a cheap, effective vaccine. Even now, in America, some people are pushing for the use of very expensive therapeutics rather than vaccinating people. Once the seed had been sown by whichever source it was difficult to remove the distrust of the AZ vaccine. I don’t want to sound like a conspiracy theorist but that’s my gut feeling. I’m not disputing that Macron said that however.

Stop it, stop it.... ?

MayBee70

I don’t think it was just Macron. It was never in the interest of the big pharmaceutical companies to have a cheap, effective vaccine. Even now, in America, some people are pushing for the use of very expensive therapeutics rather than vaccinating people. Once the seed had been sown by whichever source it was difficult to remove the distrust of the AZ vaccine. I don’t want to sound like a conspiracy theorist but that’s my gut feeling. I’m not disputing that Macron said that however.

Totally agree with this. The AZ vaccine was undoubtedly rubbished, and as a result millions of people the world over have not been vaccinated when they could have had the protection of a vaccine. Maybe the decision to sell it at cost caused the difficulties. The big pharmaceutical companies were definitely not pleased about that.

Is this the story from February 2021 about Macron alleging that AZ was only "quasi-ineffective" for people over 65?

The fact is that older people were included in the AZ Phase II trials and efficacy was found to be good.

At the point at which this Macron story hit the news, real world bulk data was still coming in about how effective AZ was in Pfizer has been in use for slightly longer at the point. Prof Sara Gilbert explains here. Watch from around 45 minues in if you don't have time to watch the whole lecture.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=U290Fk2BpvA

As in all of this, listen to the scientists and not the politicians who always have an agenda.

We know now, from real world data, that AZ is highly effective so whatever he said has proved not to be the case.

Just to make clear, my OP was not about the fact that Macron had disparaged the AZ vaccine - that is pretty common knowledge.

It was about the fact that someone in a position to do so, was present when Macron openly admitted that he’d done it at least partly because of Brexit.
This was told by the person - a very senior professional - who heard him say it, to my dd just the other day. She had no reason whatever to doubt his word.

Must say I resent some GNers implying that either I or my dd is lying, or that we would pass on any casual hearsay, or anything we were not convinced was true.

But if your attitude is ‘If I don’t like it, if it doesn’t fit my political leanings, then it can’t be true,’ do please feel free.

I didn't mean to imply you were lying Witzend so I apologise for that.

If you had phrased it as "a person close to Macron confided in my DD that he had said that his disparaging of the vaccine was in revenge for Brexit", well I still wouldn't have believed it, but it would have been a valid opinion. I wonder what the motivation of your DD's colleague was for telling her?

But the whole Chinese whispers aspect makes it unconvincing. Like Galaxy said, its fifth hand so we have no way of knowing if its real or not. Things get lost in the telling, and probably in this case, in translation as well. People who don't like Macron will believe it, those who don't believe rumours won't.

Going a bit off piste here….*What a nasty, spiteful little man he must be*

Why is “little” relevant . On behalf of vertically challenged men this annoys me.

Have just googled his height, 5’9” apparently. Obviously height is relative, if you are taller then M Macron then you may see him as being short. Actually think the quote “What a nasty, spiteful little man he must be” is bang on. Suits him down to the ground. (I am shorter than 5’9”).

A shame if short men annoy you Lucca, M Macron annoys me but there’s nothing I can do about it.

Quelle surprise!

Alima

A shame if short men annoy you Lucca, M Macron annoys me but there’s nothing I can do about it.

Short men don’t annoy me that’s the point, I find it offensive to always put it with a disparaging comment. I’ve never seen anyone say “nasty tall man”.

Witzend
In the O/P, you have said that Macron must be a “nasty, spiteful little man”

Please explain why you have described him as “little”.

If this story is true, I wonder why Macron, who is a smart politician, would have used a small, untelevised press conference, entirely in French, to make his remarks?
I have seen the French transcript and whilst I think he was guilty of confusing the fact that "lack of evidence is not evidence of lack", I think the way it was subsequently reported in Anglophone media was something of a distortion (to put it politely).
It wasn't much reported here, had very little coverage and was quickly followed a campaign supporting the AZ vaccine which was given, with full publicity, to the Prime Minister and the Health Minister.
Doesn't really add up as a conspiracy theory does it? ?

It all sounds a bit Chinese whispers to me. I am tired of the 'they're doing it to get us back for Brexit' narrative. Who cares really?

I am not saying you are lying I am saying its now 5th hand so not reliable. Nothing to do with my political leanings which are pretty neutral about macron.

To all those who asked, I suppose I meant ‘little’ in the mean-spirited sense, though maybe photos have also given that impression.

I don’t have any sort of prejudice against short men. A lovely friend of ours who died not long ago, and is still much mourned, was 5’ 4”.

Just out of interest, I wonder how many people have watched Macron's speeches to the nation on French TV during Covid? How many people have seen the coverage of his visits to the bereaved, to the areas suffering from floods and forest fires, to the explosion in Beirut, for example.
I don't think he is a perfect president by any means, he makes mistakes and apologises for them to the nation, but I do have to ask what the actual evidence is for describing him as a "spiteful little man"?
Could it just possibly be people being a teensy bit influenced by the UK press?