EU blames AstraZeneca as vaccine battle with UK deepens

[webfact]

FILE PHOTO: Vials labelled "COVID-19 Coronavirus Vaccine" and syringes are seen in front of a displayed EU flag in this illustration taken, February 9, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

 

By Paul Sandle and John Chalmers

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain on Monday demanded the European Union allow the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines it has ordered as tensions over a possible export ban on EU-manufactured shots mounted and Brussels pointed an accusing finger at drugmaker AstraZeneca.

 

"The UK is not to blame. The EU is not to blame," said an EU official. "It's about everyone finding agreement with a company that has been over-selling its production capacity."

 

After falling far behind post-Brexit Britain and the United States in rolling out vaccines, EU leaders are due to discuss a possible ban on vaccine exports to Britain at a summit on Thursday.

 

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke on Sunday to the EU's most powerful leaders, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, to steer them away from bans.

 

Johnson's spokesman declined to comment on whether Britain, which exited the 27-nation EU's orbit on Dec. 31, was considering retaliatory measures.

 

"I am not going to get into hypotheticals but our position is clear is that we do not want to see countries placing export restrictions on vaccinations," he said.

 

AstraZeneca has told Brussels that the UK is using a clause in its supply contract that prevents exports of its vaccines until the British market is fully served, EU officials said.

 

The European Commission, which has coordinated vaccine orders for the EU, said reciprocity was key. The EU has exported some 35 million doses since the end of January, including 10 million to Britain, but Britain has exported none, even though two UK facilities feature in the EU's contract with AstraZeneca.

 

The EU executive sent a letter of formal notice to the company last week, the first step in a dispute procedure.

 

"What our position is, is that we expect AstraZeneca to deliver the doses to the European Union that have been contracted. Contacts are ongoing with the company," chief Commission spokesman Eric Mamer told a news conference.

He said the EU was also in talks with Britain on the issue, but did not give further details.

 

FRANCE, GERMANY, ITALY SUPPORT CURBS

While France, Germany and Italy broadly support tighter export curbs on those who do not reciprocate, countries including the Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland are more cautious about cutting off the UK.

 

Irish Prime Minister Michael Martin said any EU restrictions on vaccine exports would be a "retrograde step".

 

German government spokeswoman Martina Fietz said Berlin favoured reviewing EU rules on vaccine exports because "a lot of vaccine is sent from the EU to third countries" but "virtually nothing is exported from Britain or the United States".

The EU has so far blocked one shipment of vaccines to Australia.

 

An EU official told Reuters on Sunday that the bloc was rebuffing British government calls to ship AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines produced in a factory in the Netherlands, although the company has not made a formal export request.

 

"The Brits are insisting that the Halix plant in the Netherlands must deliver the drug substance produced there to them. That doesn't work," the official told Reuters.

 

The Leiden-based plant, run by sub-contractor Halix, is listed as a supplier of vaccines in both the contracts that AstraZeneca has signed with Britain and with the European Union.

 

AstraZeneca has not yet sought approval for vaccines produced at Halix to be used in the EU, but EU officials said the request was on its way.

 

As of March 20, the UK had administered nearly 44 vaccines for every 100 people, whereas the EU had administered nearly 13 shots per 100 people, according to public data compiled by Our World In Data website.

 

(Reporting by Paul Sandle, Elizabeth Piper and Sarah Young in London, John Chalmers and Philip Blenkinsop in Brussels, and by Thomas Escritt in Berlin; Editing by Nick Macfie)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-03-23

 

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[sammieuk1]

After years of being shot down by a Junker Boris has at last delivered on a promise and out gunned the fools of Brussels suck it up Ursula ????

[KhaoYai]

The EU seems to be getting very good at blaming everyone else for their own failings. Why they want to pursue this battle with the AZ vaccine baffles me.  The mistrust and hesitancy towards the AZ vaccine caused by their own actions over the last 2 months would probably mean that even if AZ gave them their whole order in one delivery, they probably wouldn't be able to use it.

Edited March 23, 2021 by KhaoYai

[cocoonclub]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

"The UK is not to blame. The EU is not to blame," said an EU official. "It's about everyone finding agreement with a company that has been over-selling its production capacity."

Exactly. 

[cocoonclub]

54 minutes ago, KhaoYai said:

The EU seems to be getting very good at blaming everyone else for their own failings.

As much as failing on the EU side as on the British side. See first sentence.

 

54 minutes ago, KhaoYai said:

Themistrust and hesitancy towards the AZ vaccine caused by their own actions over the last 2 months

No actions over the last 2 months that caused anything. 
 

54 minutes ago, KhaoYai said:

would probably mean that even if AZ gave them their whole order in one delivery, they probably wouldn't be able to use it.

It’s completely irrelevant whether and how the EU uses the supply it contractually is entitled to. Not to mention that it has been using it completely; it has all been delivered to the customers of the joint procurement program such as Germany, France, etc. 

Edited March 23, 2021 by cocoonclub

[cocoonclub]

3 hours ago, sammieuk1 said:

After years of being shot down by a Junker Boris has at last delivered on a promise and out gunned the fools of Brussels suck it up Ursula ????

You mean he made AZ oversell so that Brexiteers could claim Boris made a fool of Ursula?  Interesting conspiracy theory. 

[sotonowl]

13 minutes ago, cocoonclub said:

It’s completely irrelevant whether and how the EU uses the supply

No it isn't, we're in a pandemic, if they don't want it others will. The vaccine isn't part of the weekly shop, it needs to go into peoples arms.

Contractually my <deleted>.

[cocoonclub]

30 minutes ago, sotonowl said:

No it isn't, we're in a pandemic, if they don't want it others will. (...) 
Contractually my <deleted>.

Of course you are entitled to that opinion but it’s legally irrelevant.
 

30 minutes ago, sotonowl said:

The vaccine isn't part of the weekly shop, it needs to go into peoples arms.

The EU has customers it needs to supply. It has its own contractual obligation to supply countries like Germany, France etc. So it is absolutely right to pass that onto its own supplier when such supplier is fulfilling his contract. 

[brommers]

Thailand is 90% dependant on Astra Zeneca for its long promised mass vaccination roll out. Seeing that AZ is utterly incompetent in running established factories in Europe there can be no confidence in their Thai supplier which has a brand new factory and has never before produced a vaccine. Just wait, in 6 weeks time there is going to be the first declared revision to the June start date and this country will be left with little or no doses for weeks or months. 

[JBChiangRai]

So the UK-AZ contract says vaccines made in the UK can’t be exported until the UK is fully vaccinated, well done Boris!

 

The EU-AZ contract has no such clause about vaccines made in the EU being exported , could anyone need more proof the EU organization is not fit for purpose.

 

Additionally, the UK-AZ contract specifies penalties if there is any interference from 3rd parties (ie the EU) in AZ fulfilling its contract with the UK, again well done Boris! (Once again the EU dropped the ball).

[cocoonclub]

1 minute ago, JBChiangRai said:

The EU-AZ contract has no such clause about vaccines made in the EU being exported , could anyone need more proof the EU organization is not fit for purpose.

It doesn’t need such clause. Imposing export bans is nothing you would need a private company to agree on. 

 

1 minute ago, JBChiangRai said:

Additionally, the UK-AZ contract specifies penalties if there is any interference from 3rd parties (ie the EU) in AZ fulfilling its contract with the UK, again well done Boris! (Once again the EU dropped the ball).

That’s AZ’s problem. 

[rupert the bear]

3 hours ago, brommers said:

Thailand is 90% dependant on Astra Zeneca for its long promised mass vaccination roll out. Seeing that AZ is utterly incompetent in running established factories in Europe there can be no confidence in their Thai supplier which has a brand new factory and has never before produced a vaccine. Just wait, in 6 weeks time there is going to be the first declared revision to the June start date and this country will be left with little or no doses for weeks or months. 

i agree that the thai manufacturer has little experience  but AZ and the way the vaccines produced can change from each batch the growth rates of the virus can alter in the vats and mediums ,that cannot be controlled according to my reading.perhaps thats incorrect but it is given in several accs

[Kwasaki]

4 hours ago, cocoonclub said:

Of course you are entitled to that opinion but it’s legally irrelevant.
 

The EU has customers it needs to supply. It has its own contractual obligation to supply countries like Germany, France etc. So it is absolutely right to pass that onto its own supplier when such supplier is fulfilling his contract. 

Especially when many are going into a third lockdown in many parts of their countries.

[chilli42]

17 minutes ago, rupert the bear said:

i agree that the thai manufacturer has little experience  but AZ and the way the vaccines produced can change from each batch the growth rates of the virus can alter in the vats and mediums ,that cannot be controlled according to my reading.perhaps thats incorrect but it is given in several accs

I can’t comment on how competent AZ is.  What can see is that Thailand made some bad decisions on ensuring a supply of the vaccine.  It would have been prudent to scale up the local production more slowly.  At the same time, have secured supply and regulatory clearance of other proven vaccines.  I do believe that we will find out that the locally produced vaccine from AZ is unable to be brought up to factory scale production (which very likely is the reason AZ is having they problems they are in Europe).

[Kwasaki]

4 hours ago, brommers said:

Thailand is 90% dependant on Astra Zeneca for its long promised mass vaccination roll out. Seeing that AZ is utterly incompetent in running established factories in Europe there can be no confidence in their Thai supplier which has a brand new factory and has never before produced a vaccine. Just wait, in 6 weeks time there is going to be the first declared revision to the June start date and this country will be left with little or no doses for weeks or months. 

Is that of concern considering the way Thailand has dealt with the pandemic.

[cocoonclub]

16 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

Especially when many are going into a third lockdown in many parts of their countries.

Yes, you can add the moral obligation towards the European citizens to the contractual obligations towards the EU procurement program’s customers. 

[rupert the bear]

the EU ordered late ,3 mnths then germany france and several others banned it for older people,then they changed that,theyd got it wrong and said so.macron said it wasnt effective.so what to make of all that ?its uptake is low due the fact that people are confused by the negative messages from govt.all this eminates from eu govt and leaders.so.....

[ourmanflint]

The EU is the bad actor in this and always has been. It attempted to write a contract that explicitly made it first place in the queue for vaccines, even though it knew other countries had signed up months earlier.. It is classic bully behaviour

[Bkk Brian]

1 hour ago, Kwasaki said:

Especially when many are going into a third lockdown in many parts of their countries.

If thats an ethical criteria then I suggest looking at how long the UK has been in lockdown

[ukrules]

They realise that once the already more than 50% completed vaccination drive has been fully completed in the UK then the export floodgates will open and there will be more vaccine available than they can use

 

This will happen in just a few months time during the summer.

 

The UK will flood the world markets with cheap AZ vaccine, something that the EU seems keen to avoid and delay.

[7by7]

1 hour ago, Kwasaki said:

Especially when many are going into a third lockdown in many parts of their countries.

 

If you are going to use that as a measure of success, remember that we here in the UK have been in our third lockdown since the 6th January!

[candide]

1 hour ago, rupert the bear said:

the EU ordered late ,3 mnths then germany france and several others banned it for older people,then they changed that,theyd got it wrong and said so.macron said it wasnt effective.so what to make of all that ?its uptake is low due the fact that people are confused by the negative messages from govt.all this eminates from eu govt and leaders.so.....

 

37 minutes ago, ourmanflint said:

The EU is the bad actor in this and always has been. It attempted to write a contract that explicitly made it first place in the queue for vaccines, even though it knew other countries had signed up months earlier.. It is classic bully behaviour

The final EU contract was signed the day before the final UK contract. There is also a delivery schedule made by AZ in the contract, and AZ knew what were the commitments to other countries.

[Kwasaki]

27 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

If thats an ethical criteria then I suggest looking at how long the UK has been in lockdown

I don't need to look at anything my UK family are OK and how quick is UK going come out of it compared to the EU gang. 

[7by7]

Although the EU's contract with AstraZeneca was signed on the 27th August and the UK's on the 28th, the UK had been in a form of agreement with them since April.

 

An agreement which meant in return for the UK funding AstraZeneca's research via Oxford University to the tune of £65 million, we would get priority over everyone else when it came to deliveries.

 

How the UK gained an edge with AstraZeneca’s vaccine commitments

Quote

“Protecting the U.K.‘s supply was a central objective ... as that was being negotiated from April onwards,” the official said. Even though this isn't explicitly stated in the contract, the official said that the government’s role in the early stages of the vaccine meant “there is absolutely no way that AstraZeneca would have been able to enter a contract which gave away equal priority of access to the U.K. doses.”

 

Can anyone explain to me why the EU trying to secure enough vaccine for it's member's citizens is a bad thing, but the UK doing the same for it's citizens last April is a good thing?

[sandyf]

5 hours ago, JBChiangRai said:

Additionally, the UK-AZ contract specifies penalties if there is any interference from 3rd parties (ie the EU) in AZ fulfilling its contract with the UK, again well done Boris! (Once again the EU dropped the ball).

If shipments to the UK are halted maybe you can explain where the ball has landed.

 

Bojo's agreements are no better than a second hand car salesman but quick to start  whinging when he is the one being shafted.

[7by7]

2 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

I don't need to look at anything my UK family are OK and how quick is UK going come out of it compared to the EU gang. 

 

I'm glad your family in the UK are OK.

 

Many are not; especially the families of the 125,933 who have died.

 

Things are improving, though; as of 23rd March we have dropped to fifth in the table of deaths per million of the population. New cases in the UK are falling, with a corresponding fall in deaths.

 

Is that due to the vaccine roll out or lockdown? Probably the latter as we wont really know the effects of the vaccine until lockdown has ended.

[sandyf]

11 minutes ago, 7by7 said:

Although the EU's contract with AstraZeneca was signed on the 27th August and the UK's on the 28th, the UK had been in a form of agreement with them since April.

 

An agreement which meant in return for the UK funding AstraZeneca's research via Oxford University to the tune of £65 million, we would get priority over everyone else when it came to deliveries.

 

How the UK gained an edge with AstraZeneca’s vaccine commitments

 

Can anyone explain to me why the EU trying to secure enough vaccine for it's member's citizens is a bad thing, but the UK doing the same for it's citizens last April is a good thing?

The benefits of the UK contract are related to production location, and brexit has muddied the waters on that. If the UK was still in the EU there wouldn't be any leverage.

It doesn't matter how watertight any contract is, if a foreign country wants to stop export there is little that can be done in the short term.

 

The UK failed to export tanks to Iran 45 years ago and still in dispute.

[7by7]

41 minutes ago, ukrules said:

<snip>

They realise that once the already more than 50% completed vaccination drive has been fully completed in the UK

 The vaccination drive in the UK is nowhere near 50% complete.

 

It will not be complete until everyone has had both doses. According to the government, as at 22nd March at 4:00 pm, only 2,281,384 people have received their second dose (Source).

[KhaoYai]

8 hours ago, cocoonclub said:

As much as failing on the EU side as on the British side. See first sentence.

 

No actions over the last 2 months that caused anything. 
 

It’s completely irrelevant whether and how the EU uses the supply it contractually is entitled to. Not to mention that it has been using it completely; it has all been delivered to the customers of the joint procurement program such as Germany, France, etc. 

Your entire post is full of inaccuracies - maybe you haven't been watching the news reports etc. over the last few weeks? I don't intend answering all your comments - I've followed this story very closely and I'm confident that everything in my previous post is accurate.

 

However, by way of illustration to one point you make - at the time that Germany halted use of the AZ vaccine over the blood clot issue, they admitted that they had only used 10% of their stock yet they were joining in the complaints about lack of supply.  News reports yesterday showed empty vaccine centres as people stayed away, fearful of the AZ vaccine.

Edited March 23, 2021 by KhaoYai

[KhaoYai]

39 minutes ago, 7by7 said:

Is that due to the vaccine roll out or lockdown? Probably the latter as we wont really know the effects of the vaccine until lockdown has ended.

I disagree - I don't see much evidence of a lockdown this time. Maybe non essential retail is closed but people still mix in other stores with little evidence of social distancing. There's also a lot more stores open this time - it seems amazing just what is classed as essential. In the first lockdown just about everything except food stores was closed.

 

I live in a tourist area and we have groups of walkers and cyclists passing every weekend.  A couple of weeks ago I was on the M62 and it was rammed full of traffic, most people I know are going to work - compared to March 2020 it seems pretty normal outside.

 

When the kids went back to school last September, new infections rose immediately. This time they went back to school 2 weeks ago and infections continue to fall. I'm convinced that the falling numbers of cases, hospitalisations and deaths in the UK is due to vaccination.

Edited March 23, 2021 by KhaoYai