The COVID-2019 Thread

[armstrong]

I have and posted it last April... the wife not being allowed into the Mall in Sakon Nakhon and being told to wait in 40C heat to be tested again. We ended up going back to the car and putting her under the air con at full blast.

I was too hot for a 7 Eleven months ago. But they kindly let me stand near the door with the AC for 5 minutes before re-testing

[HuangLao]

Appears that Thai vaccines will be available by early next month extending well into the warmer season [April/May] - depending on vaccine type.
Like everywhere, gonna take time among the bureaucratic clusterfucks.

Vaccine supply/distribution demand can't keep up with the worldwide demand.
They'll get there...in time.

1st Vaccine to Be Handed Out on Valentine’s Day, But Questions Remain

[harrybarracuda]

Appears that Thai vaccines will be available by early next month extending well into the warmer season [April/May] - depending on vaccine type.
Like everywhere, gonna take time among the bureaucratic clusterfucks.

Vaccine supply/distribution demand can't keep up with the worldwide demand.
They'll get there...in time.

1st Vaccine to Be Handed Out on Valentine’s Day, But Questions Remain

Any news for the farang or are they to be ostracised until herd immunity is attained?

[harrybarracuda]

I'll be keeping Malaysia off the travel list for a while then.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia on Tuesday struck deals with two domestic companies to purchase 18.4 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines produced by Russia's Gamaleya Institute and China's Sinovac, the health ministry said.

Malaysian pharmaceutical firm Duopharma will supply the government with 6.4 million doses of Gamaleya's Sputnik V vaccine, the ministry said in a statement. It said Malaysia Pharmaniaga Berhad will supply 12 million doses of Sinovac's vaccine.

Malaysia secures 18.4m doses of Russian, Chinese vaccines

[Joe 90]

Fake news is likely to be causing some people from the UK's South Asian communities to reject the Covid vaccine, a doctor has warned.

Dr Harpreet Sood, who is leading an NHS anti-disinformation drive, said it was "a big concern" and officials were working "to correct so much fake news".

He said language and cultural barriers played a part in the false information.

A GP in the West Midlands told the BBC some of her South Asian patients had refused the vaccine when offered it.

Influencers
Dr Sood, from NHS England, said officials were working with South Asian role models, influencers, community leaders and religious leaders to help debunk myths about the vaccine.

Much of the disinformation surrounds the contents of the vaccine.

He said: "We need to be clear and make people realise there is no meat in the vaccine, there is no pork in the vaccine, it has been accepted and endorsed by all the religious leaders and councils and faith communities."

"We're trying to find role models and influencers and also thinking about ordinary citizens who need to be quick with this information so that they can all support one another because ultimately everyone is a role model to everyone", he added.

"There's a big piece of work happening where we're translating information, we're making sure the look and feel of it reaches the populations that matter."

WhatsApp rumours fear over BAME vaccine take up
Clinics urge Asian community to take up vaccine
The vaccines explained in five South Asian languages
Some of the disinformation seen by the BBC on social media and on WhatsApp is religiously targeted. Messages falsely claim the vaccines contain animal produce - eating pork goes against the religious beliefs of Muslims, as does eating beef for Hindus.

Dr Samara Afzal has been vaccinating people in Dudley, West Midlands. She said: "We've been calling all patients and booking them in for vaccines but the admin staff say when they call a lot of the South Asian patients they decline and refuse to have the vaccination.

"Also talking to friends and family have found the same. I've had friends calling me telling me to convince their parents or their grandparents to have the vaccination because other family members have convinced them not to have it".

Dr Harpreet Sood Dr Harpreet Sood
We need to be clear and make people realise there is no meat in the vaccine, there is no pork in the vaccine, it has been accepted and endorsed by all the religious leaders
Dr Harpreet Sood
NHS England
Reena Pujara is a beauty therapist in Hampshire and a practising Hindu. She said she's been bombarded with false information.

"Some of the videos are quite disturbing especially when you actually see the person reporting is a medic and telling you that the vaccine is going to alter your DNA," she said.

"For a layman it is very confusing. And also when you read that the ingredients in the vaccine derive from a cow - and as Hindus the cow is sacred to us - it is disturbing."

About 100 mosques have a joined a campaign to counter vaccine disinformation and persuade their communities to take the vaccine. They've said they'll use their Friday sermons to urge people to have the jab.

"There should be no hesitation in taking [the vaccine] from a moral perspective," said Qari Asim, chair of the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board (MINAB), which has organised the campaign. "It is our ethical duty to protect ourselves and others from harm."

Why 'disappearing' vaccine needles aren't a scam
No, it won't alter your DNA - vaccine rumours debunked
Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi told the BBC's Asian Network that faith and community leaders had a big role to play in ensuring a high take-up of the vaccine. He said he had met with more than 150 leaders from Sikh, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim communities who were taking the message out "that it's the right thing to do".

He added that the government was taking steps to tackle online disinformation around the vaccine, as well as making sure vaccine guidance was available in many different languages.

A recent poll, commissioned by the Royal Society of Public Health, suggested just over half of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people would be happy to have the coronavirus vaccine.

It found 57% said they would take the vaccine - compared with 79% of white people.

[Norton]

There's talk that PI won't be opening to foreign tourists this year.

I would say the "talk" is spot on. No quick fix to this.

The final phase will be rolled out in January 2022, with the goal to have enough vaccines to distribute to create herd immunity.

2nd quarter 2022 Thailand should significantly ease entry restrictions.
Should.

[harrybarracuda]

^ Funny that when South Asians were queuing up for "vaccination vacations" to the UK a few weeks back.

[Norton]

^ Funny that when South Asians were queuing up for "vaccination vacations" to the UK a few weeks back.

Indians and Pakis going to UK to get the jab?
Good on ya getting the jab. Should increase your freedom of movement.
Looks like it will be 1st quarter 2022 before I will get mine. Fine with me. In no hurry.

[Switch]

Indians and Pakis going to UK to get the jab?
Good on ya getting the jab. Should increase your freedom of movement.
Looks like it will be 1st quarter 2022 before I will get mine. Fine with me. In no hurry.

I’m inclined to agree ... unless the current mutations, are subject to further vaccine resistant mutations. Expect the unexpected. We might have died of isolated boredom before it gets us.

[misskit]

Wuhan next-of-kin say China silencing them as WHO visits


Relatives of Wuhan's coronavirus dead on Wednesday said Chinese authorities have deleted their social media group and are pressuring them to keep quiet while a World Health Organization team is in the city to investigate the pandemic's origins.


Scores of relatives have banded together online in a shared quest for accountability from Wuhan officials who they blame for mishandling the outbreak that tore through the city one year ago.


The effort has thus far been thwarted by official obstruction, monitoring of social media groups and intimidation, say next-of-kin.


But pressure has escalated in recent days, apparently to muzzle any criticism and avoid embarrassment during the highly sensitive WHO investigation.

MORE Wuhan next-of-kin say China silencing them as WHO visits

[harrybarracuda]

Wuhan next-of-kin say China silencing them as WHO visits


Relatives of Wuhan's coronavirus dead on Wednesday said Chinese authorities have deleted their social media group and are pressuring them to keep quiet while a World Health Organization team is in the city to investigate the pandemic's origins.


Scores of relatives have banded together online in a shared quest for accountability from Wuhan officials who they blame for mishandling the outbreak that tore through the city one year ago.


The effort has thus far been thwarted by official obstruction, monitoring of social media groups and intimidation, say next-of-kin.


But pressure has escalated in recent days, apparently to muzzle any criticism and avoid embarrassment during the highly sensitive WHO investigation.

MORE Wuhan next-of-kin say China silencing them as WHO visits

The chinkies don't want anyone saying the Wuhan virus comes from Wuhan eh?

[harrybarracuda]

Why Britain is annoying the Europeans:

[Joe 90]

We invented it are we are suffering the worse.

It's not unreasonable

[harrybarracuda]

We invented it are we are suffering the worse.

It's not unreasonable

We invented the Wuhan virus?

[misskit]

Americans warned against travel as COVID variants spread and testing rules go in effect


Jan. 27—The State Department warned Americans to strongly reconsider travel Tuesday as a new COVID-19 testing requirement went into effect and new variants of the virus were detected in Latin America and the Caribbean.

"If you're overseas right now, it could be harder to come home for awhile," said Ian Brownlee, the State Department's acting assistant secretary for consular affairs. "Everyone needs to be prepared to be potentially seriously disrupted in their trip."


Brownlee's warning came on the first day of the U.S.'s new testing requirement for inbound travelers overseas. All airline passengers, regardless of citizenship, must now present proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of travel or show proof that they have recovered from the deadly virus. Anyone failing to do either will be denied boarding by the airlines and will be responsible for any additional lodging costs.


While U.S. embassies overseas can help U.S. citizens with information and possibly a loan to help them return home, Brownlee said they do not have the ability to provide COVID-19 testing for those seeking to return.


"The bottom line message is: This is really not the time for people to be engaging in discretionary travel and that all travel should be postponed until we get a better handle on getting this virus under control, and accelerating our vaccination strategies," he said.


The new measure is part of an executive order issued by the Biden administration to tighten COVID-19 restrictions with the hope of slowing down the spread of several highly contagious variants of the disease that are now spreading in the region.


At least 15 countries and territories in the Americas, including the United States, have confirmed the presence of at least one of three emerging variants: Those first identified in southeast England, South Africa or Brazil.


The new variants are proving to be very difficult and their emergence highlights the challenges U.S. health officials are facing in the race to vaccinate as many people as they can against infections, said Dr. Marty Cetron, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's global migration and quarantine division.


"They all suggest that they are potentially more contagious than the current circulating predominate virus. They can quickly become the predominant virus that's circulating and several of them have presented challenges in ...evading some of the natural immunity and challenges toward looking at our vaccine solutions," he said.


The Pan American Health Organization confirmed the spread of one of of the highly contagious mutated strains of the virus to 14 countries Tuesday. That list grew hours later when the Cayman Islands, a British dependent territory 433 miles south of Miami, reported that the U.K. variant had also been detected in three recent travelers arriving from Barbados and Britain.


"It is not surprising that we now have confirmation of this variant in the Cayman Islands, as we know it to be virulent and widespread," Cayman' Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Lee said.


Cayman was notified of the strain by the Caribbean Public Health Agency, the Trinidad-based public health agency conducting COVID-19 testing for a number of countries and territories in the region. The agency has been asking its members to send in selections of positive COVID-19 samples for genetic sequencing.


So far, Caribbean health experts have discovered the U.K. variant in Cayman Islands, St. Lucia, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. Separately Cuba, according to PAHO, has reported the presence of the South African strain while the Dominican Republic has confirmed the presence of the U.K. variant.


On Tuesday, the U.S. surpassed 25 million reported cases of COVID-19 and over 400,000 deaths, the CDC said, making the variants even more of a threat. The CDC made a last-minute decision to eliminate a two-week waiver for airlines flying to countries where it will be difficult for passengers returning to the U.S. to comply with the new testing rule.


"This virus is a formidable foe," Cetron said. "We have to be prepared to be very flexible in response to this virus and adapt our strategies quickly."


Cetron said the new variants have the ability to spread asymptomatically and pre-symptomatically, characteristics that have been fueling the pandemic. Also worrying is the speed at which the virus can move through a population and grow exponentially, its reproductive rate and the evolution of the virus in forming mutations that have the potential to become more contagious, and potentially more serious.


For example, in the case of the strain that emerged in Manaus, Brazil, there is a high probability of reinfection. While the population had recovered from an initial large wave of infections, it was later revealed that the mutation caused a number of reinfections and a second uptick in cases. This variant has been reported in Japan after it was first identified in Brazil in December.


"We're really in a race between a really formidable virus and our human ability to control transmission and bring our best tools to the table in the form of vaccinations. So we have the variant versus the vaccines, and we have the infection in general in and of itself, versus our ability to fight this."


Since Tuesday, airlines have been tasked with confirming that passengers traveling to the U.S. have been tested within the previous three days, in accordance with the new order.


A spokesperson for American Airlines said Tuesday afternoon that the company's Latin American and Caribbean operations were running smoothly, and that there were no major issues to report.


U.S. officials said they have been fielding calls from airlines and so far the issues that have come up are things that were anticipated and are being worked out. There are over 100 countries that have testing requirements for either exit or entry to control the global pandemic, the CDC said.


The new testing requirement does not apply to individuals flying from the U.S. Virgin Islands or Puerto Rico.


At the Port-au-Prince airport in Haiti, however, chaos did erupt and police had to be called, said a physician, Dr. Vincent DeGennaro, who was traveling back to the U.S. Tuesday. DeGennaro said several passengers who got tested at his facility, which is among several on a U.S. embassy list, were denied boarding by airline agents when they checked in for their flight.


The airlines told the travelers that the tests were invalid because DeGennaro's facility is not among the five on a list released by Haiti's Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP).


"Why does the MSPP list matter?" said DeGennaro, who also got tested at his facility and faced no problems boarding a JetBlue flight to Fort Lauderdale. "These are American visa holders on U.S. private companies being screened for a U.S. policy they are going to need to enforce on the U.S. side of the border."


DeGennaro said he spent the afternoon emailing, tweeting and calling all of the major U.S. carriers flying to Haiti, as well as the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince. No one responded. He said another colleague traveling Tuesday told him he saw dozens of U.S. bound passengers denied due to the testing requirement.


American Airlines spokeswoman Laura Masvidal declined to comment on whether there had been any significant reduction in the number of people boarding flights. She acknowledged that some passengers arrived at the Port-au-Prince airport without proof of negative results and were moved to a later flight after showing the necessary documentation.


Spirit Airlines said while most of its U.S.-bound passengers flying out of the region Tuesday showed up with the proper documentation, some had to be turned away after presenting antibody tests. The CDC is requiring PCR COVID-19 tests or rapid antigen tests.

Americans warned against travel as COVID variants spread and testing rules go in effect

[harrybarracuda]

An excellent write up about the Chinkies covering up the Wuhan virus. There is also a documentary on the BBC, part one is up, part two will be broadcast on 2nd Feb.

Link

I think the old chinkies will be throwing their toys out of the pram at the UK again.

Covid-19: Five days that shaped the outbreak
By Jane McMullen

A year ago, the Chinese government locked down the city of Wuhan. For weeks beforehand officials had maintained that the outbreak was under control - just a few dozen cases linked to a live animal market. But in fact the virus had been spreading throughout the city and around China.

This is the story of five critical days early in the outbreak.

By 30 December, several people had been admitted to hospitals in the central city of Wuhan, having fallen ill with high fever and pneumonia. The first known case was a man in his 70s who had fallen ill on 1 December. Many of those were connected to a sprawling live animal market, Huanan Seafood Market, and doctors had begun to suspect this wasn't regular pneumonia.

Samples from infected lungs had been sent to genetic sequencing companies to identify the cause of the disease, and preliminary results had indicated a novel coronavirus similar to Sars. The local health authorities and the country's Center for Disease Control (CDC) had already been notified, but nothing had been said to the public.

Although no-one knew it at the time, between 2,300 and 4,000 people were by now likely infected, according to a recent model by MOBS Lab at Northeastern University in Boston. The outbreak was also thought to be doubling in size every few days. Epidemiologists say that at this early part of an outbreak, each day and even each hour is critical.

At around 16:00 on 30 December, the head of the Emergency Department at Wuhan Central Hospital was handed the results of a test carried out by sequencing lab Capital Bio Medicals in Beijing.

She went into a cold sweat as she read the report, according to an interview given later to Chinese state media.

At the top were the alarming words: "SARS CORONAVIRUS". She circled them in bright red, and passed it on to colleagues over the Chinese messaging site WeChat.

Within an hour and a half, the grainy image with its large red circle reached a doctor in the hospital's ophthalmology department, Li Wenliang. He shared it with his hundreds-strong university class group, adding the warning, "Don't circulate the message outside this group. Get your family and loved ones to take precautions."

When Sars spread through southern China in late 2002 and 2003, Beijing covered up the outbreak, insisting that everything was under control. This allowed the virus to spread around the world. Beijing's response invoked international criticism and - worryingly for a regime deeply concerned about stability - anger and protests within China. Between 2002 and 2004, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) went on to infect more than 8,000 people and kill almost 800 worldwide.

Over the coming hours, screen shots of Li's message spread widely online. Across China, millions of people began talking about Sars online.

It would turn out that the sequencers made a mistake - this was not Sars, but a new coronavirus very similar to it. But this was a critical moment. News of a possible outbreak had escaped.

The Wuhan Health Commission was already aware that there was something going on in the city's hospitals. That day, officials from the National Health Commission in Beijing arrived, and lung samples were sent to at least five state labs in Wuhan and Beijing to sequence the virus in parallel.

Now, as messages suggesting the possible return of Sars began flying over Chinese social media, the Wuhan Health Commission sent two orders out to hospitals. It instructed them to report all cases direct to the Health Commission, and told them not to make anything public without authorisation.

Within 12 minutes, these orders were leaked online.

It might have taken a couple more days for the online chatter to make the leap from Chinese-speaking social media to the wider world if it wasn't for the efforts of veteran epidemiologist Marjorie Pollack.

The deputy editor of ProMed-mail, an organisation which sends out alerts on disease outbreaks worldwide, received an email from a contact in Taiwan, asking if she knew anything about the chatter online.

Back in February 2003, ProMed had been the first to break the news of Sars. Now, Pollack had deja vu. "My reaction was: 'We're in trouble,'" she told the BBC.

Three hours later, she had finished writing an emergency post, requesting more information on the new outbreak. It was sent out to ProMed's approximately 80,000 subscribers at one minute to midnight.

As word began to spread, Professor George F Gao, director general of China's Center for Disease Control [CDC], was receiving offers of help from contacts around the world.

China revamped its infectious disease infrastructure after Sars - and in 2019, Gao had promised that China's vast online surveillance system would be able to prevent another outbreak like it.

But two scientists who contacted Gao say the CDC head did not seem alarmed.

"I sent a really long text to George Gao, offering to send a team out and do anything to support them," Dr Peter Daszak, the president of New York-based infectious diseases research group EcoHealth Alliance, told the BBC. But he says that all he received in reply was a short message wishing him Happy New Year.

Epidemiologist Ian Lipkin of Columbia University in New York was also trying to reach Gao. Just as he was having dinner to ring in the New Year, Gao returned his call. The details Lipkin reveals about their conversation offer new insights into what leading Chinese officials were prepared to say at this critical point.

"He had identified the virus. It was a new coronavirus. And it was not highly transmissible. This didn't really resonate with me because I'd heard that many, many people had been infected," Lipkin told the BBC. "I don't think he was duplicitous, I think he was just wrong."

Lipkin says he thinks Gao should have released the sequences they had already obtained. My view is that you get it out. This is too important to hesitate."\

Gao, who refused the BBC's requests for an interview, has told state media that the sequences were released as soon as possible, and that he never said publicly that there was no human-to-human transmission.

That day, the Wuhan Health Commission issued a press release stating that 27 cases of viral pneumonia had been identified, but that there was no clear evidence of human to human transmission.

It would be a further 12 days before China shared the genetic sequences with the international community.

The Chinese government refused multiple interview requests by the BBC. Instead, it gave us detailed statements on China's response, which state that in the fight against Covid-19 China "has always acted with openness, transparency and responsibility, and … in a timely manner."

International law stipulates that new infectious disease outbreaks of global concern be reported to the World Health Organization within 24 hours. But on 1 January the WHO still had not had official notification of the outbreak. The previous day, officials there had spotted the ProMed post and reports online, so they contacted China's National Health Commission.

"It was reportable," says Professor Lawrence Gostin, Director of the WHO Collaborating Center on national and global health law at Georgetown University in Washington DC, and a member of the International Health Regulations roster of experts. "The failure to report clearly was a violation of the International Health Regulations."

Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, a WHO epidemiologist who would become the agency's Covid-19 technical lead, joined the first of many emergency conference calls in the middle of the night on 1 January.

"We had the assumptions initially that it may be a new coronavirus. For us it wasn't a matter of if human to human transmission was happening, it was what is the extent of it and where is that happening."

It was two days before China responded to the WHO. But what they revealed was vague - that there were now 44 cases of viral pneumonia of unknown cause.

China says that it communicated regularly and fully with the WHO from 3 January. But recordings of internal WHO meetings obtained by the Associated Press (AP) news agency some of which were shared with PBS Frontline and the BBC, paint a different picture, revealing the frustration that senior WHO officials felt by the following week.

"'There's been no evidence of human to human transmission' is not good enough. We need to see the data," Mike Ryan WHO's health emergencies programme director is heard saying.

The WHO was legally required to state the information it had been provided by China. Although they suspected human to human transmission, the WHO were not able to confirm this for a further three weeks.

"Those concerns are not something they ever aired publicly. Instead, they basically deferred to China," says AP's Dake Kang. "Ultimately, the impression that the rest of the world got was just what the Chinese authorities wanted. Which is that everything was under control. Which of course it wasn't."

The number of people infected by the virus was doubling in size every few days, and more and more people were turning up at Wuhan's hospitals.

But now - instead of allowing doctors to share their concerns publicly - state media began a campaign that effectively silenced them.

On 2 January, China Central Television ran a story about the doctors who spread the news about an outbreak four days earlier. The doctors, referred to only as "rumour mongers" and "internet users", were brought in for questioning by the Wuhan Public Security Bureau and 'dealt with' 'in accordance with the law'.

One of the doctors was Li Wenliang, the eye doctor whose warning had gone viral. He signed a confession. In February, the doctor died of Covid-19.

The Chinese government says that this is not evidence that it was trying to suppress news of the outbreak, and that doctors like Li were being urged not to spread unconfirmed information.

But the impact of this public dressing down was critical. For though it was becoming apparent to doctors that there was, in fact, human-to-human transmission, they were prevented from going public.

A health worker from Li's hospital, Wuhan Central, told us that over the next few days "there were so many people who had a fever. It was out of control. We started to panic. [But] The hospital told us that we were not allowed to speak to anyone."

The Chinese government told us that "it takes a rigorous scientific process to determine if a new virus can be transmitted from person to person".

The authorities would continue to maintain for a further 18 days that there was no human-to-human transmission.

Labs across the country were racing to map the complete genetic sequence of the virus. Among them was a renowned virologist in Shanghai, Professor Zhang Yongzhen who began sequencing on 3 January.

After having worked for two days straight, he obtained a complete sequence. His results revealed a virus that was similar to Sars, and therefore likely transmissible.

On 5 January, Zhang's office wrote to the National Health Commission advising taking precautionary measures in public places.

"On that very day, he was working to try and get information released as soon as possible, so the rest of the world could see what it was and so we could get diagnostics going", says Zhang's research partner, Professor Edward Holmes an evolutionary virologist at the University of Sydney.

But Zhang could not make his findings public. On January 3, the National Health Commission had sent a secret memorandum to labs banning unauthorised scientists from working on the virus and disclosing the information to the public.

"What the notice effectively did," says AP's Dake Kang, "is it silenced individual scientists and laboratories from revealing information about this virus and potentially allowing word of it to leak out to the outside world and alarm people."

None of the labs went public with the genetic sequence of the virus. China continued to maintain it was viral pneumonia with no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission.

It would be six days before it announced that the new virus was a coronavirus, and even then, it did not share any genetic sequences to allow other countries to develop tests and begin tracing the spread of the virus.

Three days later, on 11 January, Zhang decided it was time to put his neck on the line. As he boarded a plane between Beijing and Shanghai, he authorised Holmes to release the sequence.

The decision came at a personal cost - his lab was closed the next day for "rectification" - but his action broke the deadlock. The next day state scientists released the sequences they had obtained. The international scientific community swung into action, and a toolkit for a diagnostic test was publicly available by 13 January.

Despite the evidence from scientists and doctors, China would not confirm there was human-to-human transmission until 20 January.

At the beginning of any emerging disease outbreak, says health law expert Lawrence Gostin, it's always chaotic. "It was always going to be very difficult to control this virus, from day one. But by the time we knew [the international community] it was transmissible human to human, I think the cat was already out the bag, it already spread.

"That was the shot we had, and we lost it."

As Wang Linfa, a bat virologist at Duke-Nus Medical School in Singapore, says: "January 20th is the dividing line, before that the Chinese could have done much better. After that, the rest of the world should be really on high alert and do much better."

Covid-19: Five days that shaped the outbreak - BBC News

[strigils]

Seem the EU is getting a bit agitated over its vaccine programme delays and lashing out, trying to impose restrictions on AstraZenica which seek to override the companies contractual obligarions, despite placing orders 3 months behind the UK.

AstraZeneca denies pulling out of talks as EU Covid vaccine row deepens


Britain is on a collision course with the EU over vaccine shortages after Brussels refused to accept that people in the UK have first claim on Oxford/AstraZeneca doses produced in local plants.


The EU’s health commissioner outright dismissed on Wednesday an argument made by Pascal Soriot, the Anglo-Swedish company’s chief executive, that he was contractually obliged to supply the UK first.


In a withering statement, Stella Kyriakides said the UK should not earn any advantage by signing a contract with AstraZeneca three months before the EU’s executive branch put their pen to paper.


“We reject the logic of first come first served,” the commissioner said. “That may work in a butcher’s shop but not in contracts and not in our advanced purchase agreements.”


AstraZeneca has enraged Brussels and EU capitals by warning it will only be able to deliver 25% of the doses scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of the year once the European medicines authority has given its approval, as is expected on Friday.


At the same time, the pharmaceutical company has assured the British government, who chose not to be part of the EU vaccine programme, that it will fulfil its promise to deliver 2m doses a week for the benefit of UK residents.


On Tuesday, UK government sources insisted that only once British facilities had produced 100m doses for the local population would those plants be free to supply other countries.


The EU are investing €336m in AstraZeneca in return for 400m doses of its vaccine, the first 80m of which had been expected before April.


Boris Johnson risked further inflaming matters on Wednesday by claiming it would have been a “great pity” if the United Kingdom had followed advice to stay in the EU vaccine programme rather than set up its own plan.


“I do think that we’ve been able to do things differently, and better, in some ways,” the British prime minister told the House of Commons. “But it is early days, and it is very, very important to remember that this is an international venture, these vaccines. We depend on our friends and partners, and we will continue … to work with those friends and partners in the EU and beyond.”


The clash between British and European interests, after a year of tense negotiations over trade and security after Brexit, poses a threat to relations, at a time when EU institutions and 27 EU governments are coming under criticism for the slow roll-out of their vaccination programmes.


While the UK has administered vaccine first doses to more than 10% of adults and plans to vaccinate the most vulnerable 15 million – including all over-70s – by mid-February, the EU has reached 2% so far. The UK’s regulator approved the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine in late December.


Kyriakides said that under its contract with AstraZeneca, four European plants were named as suppliers and that two of those were based in the UK, and that she expected them to work for EU citizens.


The company has claimed that the contract with the EU only obliges them to make “best efforts” to supply the bloc, in the understanding that it has other obligations, and that the vaccine production process is prone to breakdown.


A spokesperson for AstraZeneca said: “Each supply chain was developed with input and investment from specific countries or international organisations based on the supply agreements, including our agreement with the European commission.


“As each supply chain has been set up to meet the needs of a specific agreement, the vaccine produced from any supply chain is dedicated to the relevant countries or regions and makes use of local manufacturing wherever possible.”

full article here

Britain and EU clash over claims to UK-produced Covid vaccine | World news | The Guardian

[Joe 90]

We invented the Wuhan virus?

The vaccine you Gooner muppet

[harrybarracuda]

Kyriakides said that under its contract with AstraZeneca, four European plants were named as suppliers and that two of those were based in the UK, and that she expected them to work for EU citizens.

Fucking uppity bubble and squeak, who the fuck does she think she is?

[strigils]

^ an example of the EU flexing its might, or not understanding / ignoring contract law. If find its reaction to being slow off the blocks quite amusing.....but but but we put money into the development, billions.....surely that overrides our chronological place in your signed contractual agreements....

[harrybarracuda]

Only about ten months too late.

UK nationals and residents returning from countries at high risk from new coronavirus variants will be requested to quarantine in hotels, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Wednesday, following a meeting with senior ministers.

The government has already barred travel from countries where the new and more aggressive coronavirus variants have emerged, including South Africa, Portugal and South America nations.

“All such arrivals who cannot be refused entry to isolate in government-provided accommodation – such as hotels – for ten days without exception. They will be met at the airport and transported directly into quarantine,” Johnson told the House of Commons.

Earlier in the week, the country’s Minister responsible for the vaccinations rollout, Nadhim Zahawi had indicated that the quarantine measure could be adopted, in a bid to prevent the risk of “vaccine-busting” new coronavirus variants entering the country.

The new restriction, which is among the toughest measures adopted in Europe could mark a further major blow to the already suffering travel industry.

Boris Johnson announces hotel quarantine for UK arrivals | New Europe

[Joe 90]

Fucking uppity bubble and squeak, who the fuck does she think she is?

Another damn fine example of why Brexit happened

[Troy]

Local infection rate, here in Bavaria, has dropped from over 200 to high 90's in the last 1 days. Cheltenham is still over 300, dropping little in the same 10 day period. The Virus is either much more prevalent in the UK, or people are not adhering to the advice.

A few days later and Cheltenham is down to 149/100K, which is a significant drop. Bavaria lockdown appears to be working too with it now down to 85/100K. The goal was to keep lockdown to essential shopping only until the infection rate dropped below 50. I think this will be achieved by the current target date of 14 Feb. The question will be how much will be allowed to reopen and what will be the threshold for a future lockdown.

I was hoping for non essential travel within the EU to reopen by this summer and international travel by the end of the year. I have a feeling I'm being over optimistic.

[Buckaroo Banzai]

Fucking uppity bubble and squeak, who the fuck does she think she is?

The EU’s health commissioner

^ an example of the EU flexing its might, or not understanding / ignoring contract law.

Apparently she thinks it is the UK side that does not understand contract law, she said:
"“We reject the logic of first come first served,” the commissioner said. “That may work in a butcher’s shop but not in contracts and not in our advanced purchase agreements.”
what says you?

[Troy]

^ an example of the EU flexing its might, or not understanding / ignoring contract law. If find its reaction to being slow off the blocks quite amusing.....but but but we put money into the development, billions.....surely that overrides our chronological place in your signed contractual agreements....

The EU hedged its bets with the purchase of vaccines and failed to approve them quick enough. The EU are to blame for this one and their attempt to shift it to AstraZeneca is looking a little silly. They haven't even approved the vaccine yet.