Macron and the AZ vaccine

I think it could well be Mamie. I am still impressed with both what he says and how he delivers his speeches etc.

It seems possible to me that a great deal of the division in the world is caused by this kind of entirely unattributable or verifiable gossip?

I think he has played a blinder over the Pass Sanitaire and vaccination rates Welshwife. Lovely to see over half of the country's 12-18 year olds have now had their first vaccinations. Wish the UK would catch up for my grandchildren there.

This comes as no surprise to me.
As soon as we heard, with delight in my case, that we had voted to leave the EU, it was pretty obvious that they would do all they could to make things as difficult as possible for us.

How dare we want to leave their club eh? How dare we.
Then it very quickly became apparent that, having left and negotiated our own vaccine deals long before the lumbering EU, that we would have one of the most successful vaccination programmes in the world.

I remember Angela Merkle was another one keen to get in on the act of shamefully casting doubts on the AZ vaccine.

Will the EU ever grow up and accept our referendum result without indulging in this childish behaviour?

We can only hope.

Wishful thinking Mamie, on the other hand pigs might fly.

I don't doubt it at all Witzend

Shock horror. President Macron is an inch taller than Boris Johnson. So is he a ‘more’ nasty spiteful little man or not?

Its interesting, isn't it?

Those of us who decline to take as gospel that Macron's prime motivation for worrying about the AZ vaccine was spite, are accused of not believing things that go against our political leanings.

Whereas those who would believe Macron skewers British babies and eats them for tea are happy to believe a completely unsubstantiated bit of gossip because it fits with their belief that the sole purpose of the EU and all its members is to undermine the UK.

Funny old world.

Mamie

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? ?

Yes quite.
I wonder when the Brexit is going to stop blaming Europe and European leaders, it seems obsessional

Galaxy

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

That made me howl with laughter.

Post of the Day award to Galaxy

JenniferEccles

This comes as no surprise to me.
As soon as we heard, with delight in my case, that we had voted to leave the EU, it was pretty obvious that they would do all they could to make things as difficult as possible for us.

How dare we want to leave their club eh? How dare we.
Then it very quickly became apparent that, having left and negotiated our own vaccine deals long before the lumbering EU, that we would have one of the most successful vaccination programmes in the world.

I remember Angela Merkle was another one keen to get in on the act of shamefully casting doubts on the AZ vaccine.

Will the EU ever grow up and accept our referendum result without indulging in this childish behaviour?

We can only hope.

But you don't hope at all! You make up silly accusations to hide the silliness of it all.

Then it very quickly became apparent that, having left and negotiated our own vaccine deals long before the lumbering EU, that we would have one of the most successful vaccination programmes in the world.

Do we, aye?

(Canada, Chile, and Uruguay are ahead of us as well, but they're not EU so I didn't include them.)

Do you believe this about Johnson - heard from someone I know who heard from the person who spoke to Johnson - on the Greek island where his father has a holiday home.

The man on the Greek island took Johnson to task about the lies told and ended up quoting Shakespeare at him. Johnson's riposte was to say that if he had to do it again he'd have a bigger bus and write £450 million on it.

Namsnanny

I don't doubt it at all Witzend

Me neither Witzend in fact it has always seemed obvious.

I know that you voted to Remain and didn’t want Brexit so you have no axe to grind.

What accusations did I make up growstuff ?
Macron and Merkle did do a huge amount of damage when they made unfounded accusations against the AZ vaccine.

Yes we all know that there was a tiny minority of people who had blood clots after the vaccine, but the two leaders blew it all out of proportion causing doubts in the minds of French and German people.

JenniferEccles

What accusations did I make up growstuff ?
Macron and Merkle did do a huge amount of damage when they made unfounded accusations against the AZ vaccine.

Yes we all know that there was a tiny minority of people who had blood clots after the vaccine, but the two leaders blew it all out of proportion causing doubts in the minds of French and German people.

Did you pick that up from British media? It's also the case that some sectors of the British media have blown what Macron and Merkel said out of all proportion. You really should look at the kind of stuff our own leaders say.

Can you tell us what unfounded allegations Merkel made please? Anything that she said that wasn't based on the advice of German medical authorities would do. Any guesses as to which vaccine Merkel got? (Clue: starts with A, ends in Z)

Any guesses as to which vaccine Merkel got? (Clue: starts with A, ends in Z)

Sorry, I'm going to need another clue.

Dear oh dear growstuff !
You obviously didn’t watch the news or read any newspapers, and yes, there are some good reliable newspapers around.
After rubbishing the AZ vaccine, they then realised they had shot themselves in the foot, as people there didn’t want it, and the virus spread unchecked with too few being vaccinated.
Then they decided it was possibly safe after all, demanded consignments already promised to other countries should go to EU countries only, and after all that, it set back their vaccination programmes by miles.

JenniferEccles

What accusations did I make up growstuff ?
Macron and Merkle did do a huge amount of damage when they made unfounded accusations against the AZ vaccine.

Yes we all know that there was a tiny minority of people who had blood clots after the vaccine, but the two leaders blew it all out of proportion causing doubts in the minds of French and German people.

Yes, this....absolutely!

I doubt that Macron will be around politically for all that long.
Oh how sad, never mind.?

Macron isn't as bad as some, but he is very inconsistent. In his own words, one minute the UK is an ally, then Brexit is full of lies, then we are best friends, then false and not to be trusted. It is no wonder he says one thing about AZ one day and something else the next.
Whatever he finally decided about vaccinating in France actually appears to be working well.

I am quite happy to have had Macron as a leader for the last eighteen months considering how many deaths per million have happened in the UK. Moreover, there isn’t the same huge backlog of operations nor appointments seeing people face to face.

He has also managed to keep schools open where possible from June 2020, only closing in the first lockdown and stipulated the use of an an online app which has to be shown in cafes or other places and people still have to wear masks, I feel safe at the moment.

He did not rubbish the vaccine but he had to obey the laws of the country. At the time of the roll out of the vaccine, results were still in progress at all levels. I believe that the laboratories were not liable for any claims, if there were any problems in the future. With this in mind and the fact that Ministers are held responsible for their actions, (eg 70/80s contaminated blood, the English minster gave evidence at an inquiry, whereas two French ministers were on charges of manslaughter) is why there was at lot of hesitation a the time with all European countries. He could have been accused in court if he had continued to have people vaccinated when other countries were flagging up what they thought were problems. It had ready been done in the recent pass.

The news very rarely talks about Brexit, the UK is not insulted nor ridiculed. Macron’s problems are of course from either the far right or the far left because spending is too much or too little and the retirement age being revise.

I believe what you are hearing is similar to the straight banana someone wrote about many years ago.

lemongrove

Dear oh dear growstuff !
You obviously didn’t watch the news or read any newspapers, and yes, there are some good reliable newspapers around.
After rubbishing the AZ vaccine, they then realised they had shot themselves in the foot, as people there didn’t want it, and the virus spread unchecked with too few being vaccinated.
Then they decided it was possibly safe after all, demanded consignments already promised to other countries should go to EU countries only, and after all that, it set back their vaccination programmes by miles.

Oh, but I do follow the news - and not only the UK news, which is why I take the parochial British news with a large dose of salt.

Were you following the news in the French media?

If you look at the actual data (painful I know lemongrove) all the very limited AZ that was delivered early in the roll-out in France was used straight away. When a huge amount of Pfizer supplies became available fewer AZ was used partly because of concerns about clots and mostly because of the unreliability of AZ supplies.
Pfizer has been the saviour of the now highly successful vaccination campaign here.