The EU

In fairness, given Australia’s almost non existent virus, you can’t blame them. On the other hand, it puts them in a poor light once again.
 
Hang on. If Johnson stopped a shipment because they were needed here first, would the vote leave wolfhounds on here be giving him the bird. I don't think so.
 
Australia don't the same scale of difficultbut they still need the vaccine and they placed orders in good faith.

There will be court action at some point against the EU as they will have breached some trade law or other.

Inevitable global reputational harm alongside, our local differences. Long term, investment and relationships are going to be strained.

I don't blame the Italians, but there will be consequences.
 
Isn't that exactly what you and yours have been advocating we do, with the British first policy? Get everyone vaccinated here then help out elsewhere?
No. I posted a similar post regards Finland and asked if we should help them out.
 
No. I posted a similar post regards Finland and asked if we should help them out.
I've just reread that thread, and nearly everyone was saying put our own house in order first, plus pointing out your post was misleading as they neither want nor have asked for help
 
I've just reread that thread, and nearly everyone was saying put our own house in order first, plus pointing out your post was misleading as they neither want nor have asked for help
So you read it and decided that it was misleading. What part of what I posted didn’t luxe to helping another county ? I know it’s tough for you wiz, in your head you want me to be a nasty bigot/facist/gammon/racists/xenophobic horror. Sorry to disappoint.
 
Australia don't the same scale of difficultbut they still need the vaccine and they placed orders in good faith.

There will be court action at some point against the EU as they will have breached some trade law or other.

Inevitable global reputational harm alongside, our local differences. Long term, investment and relationships are going to be strained.

I don't blame the Italians, but there will be consequences.
I think there will be a law suit from the EU against AZ. This goes back to AZ not honouring their contract with the EU.
 
I think there will be a law suit from the EU against AZ. This goes back to AZ not honouring their contract with the EU.
I think AZ would fancy their chances from the "best efforts" clause.

The didn't change their mind when the EU were getting cross, and it's only because the EU have retrospectively changed the law, that allows them to commandeer vaccines ordered and paid for in good faith by a sovereign nation elsewhere.

It's understandable from an Italian perspective, who have had to endure the worst of the pandemic without EU support, but it's an absolutely awful look internationally, and, I still suspect, against some form of law.
 
The contract between the EU and AZ was a best endeavours based contract because the EU was not prepared to enter a development programme with them taking the associated risk. The UK committed to the programme with AZ taking the risk on board and paying a hefty price for it, hence why we are so advanced with the vaccination programme and the EU blaming everyone else apart from themselves.
 
I think there will be a law suit from the EU against AZ. This goes back to AZ not honouring their contract with the EU.
They can try.
It’s their own fault for agreeing to such a ridiculous best effort vague timescales which wouldn’t stand up in any legit court.
Australia might have a better case against Italy and the EU for effectively taking their product.
 
Fuck Australia. It's not as if they've been busying themselves to make a vaccine themselves. The global equivalent of selfish stay at home goons (while everyone else has been grafting).
 
Never mind Australia. The EU has blocked the shipment of vaccines to everywhere including the UK. The EU's Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said the Netherlands based AstraZeneca subcontractor Halix had not sent any doses of the vaccine to the UK since the bloc implemented export controls.
 
Never mind Australia. The EU has blocked the shipment of vaccines to everywhere including the UK. The EU's Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said the Netherlands based AstraZeneca subcontractor Halix had not sent any doses of the vaccine to the UK since the bloc implemented export controls.

Not particularly surprising, NL is within AZ's EU manufacturing chain and thus should not be sending doses to the UK or anywhere outside of the EU.

Mr Hancock et al showed a lot of foresight in ensuring that as much of the UK's vaccine supply as possible was manufactured in the UK for precisely this reason, it's why Oxford was steered towards AZ rather than the US company they were originally talking to and AZ were very careful to set up separate supply chains for separate markets, a UK chain for the UK, an EU chain for the EU and so on, the difference is that the UK supply chain is 3 months ahead of the EU's one and thus far more productive.

Quite what the situation with the Aus shipment is I don't know, possibly this was manfactured outside of the EU but sent to Italy for fill and finish, if anyone knows more I'd be interested to hear it.
 
I wouldn’t mind if they had some of our excess stock.

We should probably help some of our friends in the EU out of the hole dug for them by the commission first.

Ireland, Portugal, maybe Holland and Belgium, some of the eastern countries as well, France/Germany can go sing.
 
Australia have done so well because they locked down early and controlled their borders. At some point they are going to have to ease their restrictions, and that means a vaccination programme. So who will be producing their supply? AZ?
 
Australia have done so well because they locked down early and controlled their borders. At some point they are going to have to ease their restrictions, and that means a vaccination programme. So who will be producing their supply? AZ?

Australia have done well because they're on the other side of the world, most of the major population centres are 2000 miles away from anywhere and the climate doesn't suit the virus anyway.

On the subject of vaccine, I believe AZ has the facilities to produce 50m doses within Aus.
 
Well that’s what they need to do then.
And they don’t have to dance to the EU’s tune / sale of contract law breaking.

I have a slight suspicion that AZ never actually intended to ship the vaccines from Italy to Aus, they simply put in the export request to force the EU to deny it thus generating a diplomatic incident as payback for the EU's earlier behaviour towards them.
 
I meant the U.K. excess stocks. Of which there is a lot. I certainly don’t agree with the EU approach here. It’s not the right way to go about things.
So if the UK was short of stocks and still had thousands of new cases a day, like the EU is experiencing, would you still advocate the UK sending Australia 250,000 vaccines even though it only gets 13 new cases a day?
 
So if the UK was short of stocks and still had thousands of new cases a day, like the EU is experiencing, would you still advocate the UK sending Australia 250,000 vaccines even though it only gets 13 new cases a day?
That’s not the real life scenario though, is it.
When it goes to court, as it most likely will, they will deal with real life rather than hypothetical ethics.
 
Australia have done well because they're on the other side of the world, most of the major population centres are 2000 miles away from anywhere and the climate doesn't suit the virus anyway.

On the subject of vaccine, I believe AZ has the facilities to produce 50m doses within Aus.
They are only on the other side of the world from us and Europe, there’s plenty of countries on their doorstep including China, Japan and believe it or not the USA is t that far away.
 
That’s not the real life scenario though, is it.
When it goes to court, as it most likely will, they will deal with real life rather than hypothetical ethics.

It most likely won't go to court, having read the contract I don't think the EU has a leg to stand on and they probably know that themselves, all the complaints about breach of contract are hot air designed to deflect attention from the EC's failures.

Even if it did go to court what legal remedies are available? I don't think any sort of compensation/damages claim would be possible, it wouldn't get to court before the supply was completed anyway so there's no kind of order to do anything available, it would be a complete waste of time and money.
 
They are only on the other side of the world from us and Europe, there’s plenty of countries on their doorstep including China, Japan and believe it or not the USA is t that far away.

Nearest land is Papua New Guinea ~ 200 km or so away, but that part of Aus is virtually unpopulated, the big cities are located about 2,000 km from anywhere overseas, and a pretty big distance from each other as well.

China/Japan is 5,000 - 6,000 km (further to anywhere actually populated), US is more like 12,000 km, so only about 2,000 km closer than the UK.
 
Nearest land is Papua New Guinea ~ 200 km or so away, but that part of Aus is virtually unpopulated, the big cities are located about 2,000 km from anywhere overseas, and a pretty big distance from each other as well.

China/Japan is 5,000 - 6,000 km (further to anywhere actually populated), US is more like 12,000 km, so only about 2,000 km closer than the UK.
Look don’t be so facetious, I’ve lived there I know where it is. The world is round you know.
 
Just heard Rob Powell on Sky saying Lord Frosts comments will go down like a cup of cold sick in the Eu. Now that’s what I call reporting.
 
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