The Vaccine Race - Hoarding & More...

As 2021 starts to progress, the world is stuck in a battle against Covid. 
Some countries have started hoarding the initial limited vaccine supply- creating the vaccine race. 

No one can get enough of it, and so far the main hoarding suspects are the US, UK, India.

It is not clear what % of each batch was promised to each country- at least not publically.
Only the number of dosages purchased, which could mean getting vaccines from the last batch or the first batch.

It seems India might have grabbed the first 100 million dosages of the Oxford Astrazeneca vaccine - made in India for Covax(Poorer country vaccine program), before allowing supplies to leave their country.

The EU want to block any vaccine leaving the EU like Pfizer as both AstraZeneca and Pfizer has said they are not able to honour their commitments in Q1. (Something like only 30%) 

The UK purchased more than anyone, but are also suspected of trying to get the most vaccine before any other country. 

The US seems to have more than its fair share of the first batches. There are claims that twice the amount of vaccine was sent out by the federal government to the state governments than what was used. 

Mexico is buying about 20 million from Russia. Although, no one really trusted Russia - despite increasing evidence that their vaccine works and is safe. 

Other medium income and poor countries are way to the back of the queue. Covax will take ages, and many poorer countries have not made a significant financial contribution before vaccines were manufactured. 

SB

I once made aa comment to the effect that public servants throughout the world have similar attributes and it has been proven all the time.   They are all the same - incompetent to the core with the difference that in some countries there are less corruption than in others.      

Germany can be as furious as they want to be - but why was the agreement signed three months after the UK signed?    

In SA it is even worse - bit a single dosage has arrived in SA through Government sources yet but Clicks and Dischem sell the vaccines in their shops ad chemists.   Where did they get it from?   Probably India through bribery and corruption.    

SB

I once made aa comment to the effect that public servants throughout the world have similar attributes and it has been proven all the time.   They are all the same - incompetent to the core with the difference that in some countries there are less corruption than in others.      

Germany can be as furious as they want to be - but why was the agreement signed three months after the UK signed?    

In SA it is even worse - bit a single dosage has arrived in SA through Government sources yet but Clicks and Dischem sell the vaccines in their shops ad chemists.   Where did they get it from?   Probably India through bribery and corruption.    

Maaik...as far as I know, there are no vaccines available in SA yet. Clicks and Dischem want to distribute it...as with their testing stations...much more efficient than what the government has to offer.

South Africa expects a flight carrying its first 1 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to arrive on 1 February, health minister Zweli Mkhize said on Wednesday.

Mkhize said after their arrival, the vaccine doses would be subject to technical processes including quality assurance over a minimum of 10 days and a maximum of 14 days.

After that, the doses can be distributed to all provinces, he added.

The value-added quality assurance process is probably the ANC getting the first batch to inoculate themselves, then health workers second and finally the rest of the population.
A few bribes will no doubt go down.  

There was even talk that prisoners would be vaccinated before the general public....and there is still no mention of the number of vaccines they are gonna kick off with. The batch arriving Monday is probably only a few for a PR exercise. 

Europe looks like they are certainly going to block BioTech vaccine which apparently is all made in Europe. It is very unclear what Pfizer actually do- and if this was just marketing for US involvement. 

If the US blocks Moderna leaving its border, the EU is going to do the same with BioTech.
Unlikely the UK will get any of the BioTech in the current situation. 

The UK will want from the 1st batch of Jansen (Johnston and Johnston) which is due to have third phases trial published, and could get approval. 

Conflict of EU vs US vs UK is heating up...

At a briefing in Brussels, she said: 'There is no hierarchy of the factories. You are aware in the contracts there are four factories listed but it does not differentiate between the UK and Europe.

'The UK factories are part of our advance purchase agreements and that is why they have to deliver.' The commissioner said the EU was losing people to the pandemic every day, adding: 'These are not numbers. They're not statistics. These are persons with families with friends and colleagues that have been affected as well.

'Pharmaceutical companies, vaccine developers, have moral societal and contractual responsibilities which they need to uphold. The view that the company is not obliged to deliver because we signed a best effort agreement is neither correct nor is it acceptable.

'The 27 European Union member states are united that AstraZeneca needs to deliver on its commitments in our agreements.'

Following talks with AstraZeneca last night, Miss Kyriakides tweeted: 'We regret the continued lack of clarity on the delivery schedule and request a clear plan from AstraZeneca for the fast delivery of the quantity of vaccines that we reserved.'

Mr Liese said: 'The BioNTech vaccine, which is only produced in Europe and has been produced with the aid of the German state and European Union money, has been shipped to the United Kingdom.

'If there is anyone thinking that European citizens would accept that we give this high quality vaccine to the UK and would accept to be treated as second class by a UK-based company, I think that the only consequence can be immediately stopping the export of the BioNtech (vaccine) and then we are in the middle of a trade war.

'So the company and the UK better think twice. When we see Europe is not treated well, not by the United States and not by the UK, then we have to show our weapons. 'We need to tell the other companies in the world if we treat the Europeans as second class, you will suffer for this.'

According to Cyril, J&J will have their vaccine for the African market produced in Port Elizabeth. 

Credit where its due, the UK is getting the vaccine role out right.

Its hard to say if Brexit hadn't occurred if the the supplies would of been spread across the whole EU. The UK wasn't required to let the EU handle the vaccine distribution, as I said they where defacto members of the EU when they signed the deals with the vaccine manufacturers and Hungary has decided to source its own supply of vaccine from Russia. Having said that if Brexit hadn't occurred the UK might have felt obligated to allow the EU to handle vaccine distribution.

Remember all the EU states agreed to allow the EU to handle it, as they wanted to avoid a bidding war between member states, with the potentially poorer EU states not be able to secure supply of the vaccine which would lead on to accusations of a disunited EU where everyone is out for themselves as EU member states where accused of at the start of the pandemic. So the EU decision may actually lead to avoidance of bad blood between member states and obtaining the vaccine at the best possible price but it has no doubt slowed down the process of actually getting the vaccine. A case of damned if you do, damned if you don't.

The UK's offer to supply vaccine once its vaccination program is done, is a friendly gesture from the UK and its a good olive branch being extended after the recent bad blood between the EU and UK over the recent years. However to say the EU needs the UK more than ever is a over egging the pudding some what, the EU will be using multiple vaccines sourced from multiple locations, the majority of the vaccine will come from outside the UK. Though any additional sources of vaccine would of course be welcome .

The US has totally shafted the EU. 

Pfizer is just a partner company from Biotech. All manufacturing is happening in Europe...
Biotech could have skipped Pfizer and just remained in the EU, Germany. 

Pfizer (PFE) said it has shipped 65 million doses so far, including 29 million to the United States. 

The company expects to have delivered 200 million doses to the United States by the end of May, hitting the mark two months ahead of its contractual obligation.

Meanwhile they are only 30% of their contractual commitment to the EU. 

@Draad,

Yes India appear to have taken everything that was meant for Covax. Having a factory in Africa is a good idea, and certainly SA. Must still be lots of good medical people in SA.