Re: Thank God We are Out of the EU ...
Originally Posted by
JBR
->
I agree about the underhand tactics of the EU and that these are, at last, becoming apparent all over the world.
However,
why do we need to import Covid vaccines through Ireland or, indeed, from anywhere when we have the facilities in this country to produce our own?
Because pharma companies are usually multinational so some might make vaccines here but because there are lots of companies globally, many don't.
We could probably make do with home-produced vaccines but the plan was (basically) to cover all bases; remember these were ordered by the UK before a single one had been developed to a stage where effectiveness could be assured.
We certainly didn't put all our eggs in one basket, so to speak - and this has proven to be very wise.
So wise that it looks certain that we will in fact have a surplus of vaccines and even before the EU started squawking there was talk of the UK donating vaccines to poorer countries later in the year.
Add to that the fact that the VMIC is being set up purely to ensure that as a country we can effectively deliver what we need ourselves if and when we have to, as well as being adaptable for both new formulations and different manufacturing processes.
We've seen how successful the idea is with Oxford and AZ, and it looks promising for the Valneva collaboration too.
To the EU's row?
I see that Moderna (we have 17 million on order from them) have now cut deliveries to France & Italy by around 25%.
The Moderna vaccine is by an American company but it seems that manufacturing in Switzerland is at the root of this decrease in allocation.
Will the EU similarly hound this company and either Switzerland, the USA or both when the EU have ordered 210 million dose from Moderna - and this was apporoved too early in January, way before the AZ one?
Where is their hounding of PfizerBiontech who also couldn't deliver what they were asked for, to the extent that another company (Sanofi) has now offered to make these under license?
Some of the comments I've seen from various EU citizens are extremely damning of the EU's behaviour surrounding the whole vaccination plan and especially of the EU's attitudes towards the Anglo-Swedish AstraZeneca and towards the UK.
Their eyes have been well and truly opened.
As I said elsewhere, the EU have with their behaviour regarding vaccines done a far better job of promoting Euroscepticism within their own member states than anything the most devout Eurosceptics themselves could have done.