How Europe botched its vaccine rollout, forcing itself back into lockdown https://www.businessinsider.com/how...ine-rollout-lockdown-france-germany-eu-2021-3 The EU will struggle to hit its target of vaccinating 70% of people by summer. About 10% of people in Germany, France, and Italy have had their first COVID-19 shot. Slow negotiations with drugmakers, shortages, and confusing public-health messages have contributed. In October, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the EU's European Commission, said the continent had "access to the most promising future vaccines under development," declaring it a "Europe success story." Six months later, Europe is heading back into lockdown, having botched its vaccine rollout. The EU will struggle to hit its target of vaccinating 70% of people by the summer. About 10% of people in Germany, France, and Italy have had their first COVID-19 dose as of Monday, according to Our World in Data, an Oxford University-based data website. By comparison, 44% of Brits, 28% of Americans, and 60% of Israelis have had a shot. The number of new COVID-19 cases in Europe has shot up in recent weeks, signalling a third wave of the virus. In France, daily new cases per million have increased from 260 in January to 551 on Monday, according to Our World in Data. France, Italy, and Germany have once again been forced to tighten lockdown restrictions. People are stuck at home, and millions of jobs, especially in tourism, are at risk. How did Europe fail so badly? It boils down to three things: slow negotiations, vaccine supply troubles, and confusing public-health messages. Less cash, slow to secure deals Efficient vaccine rollouts start with securing supply. The EU was slower than the UK, US, and Israel in this crucial step. The European Commission was determined to get vaccines cheaply — and it did, paying less than $15 per dose of Pfizer's shot, for example. The UK and US each pay around £10 ($13) per dose across all vaccines. Israel paid more and also offered Pfizer its citizens' data. But the EU's protracted negotiations meant it fell behind in securing large numbers of doses. Negotiations were also slowed by the fact its 27 member countries have differing laws about what should happen if vaccines failed. It meant Europe started rolling out its vaccine later than other places. The EU began its rollout with Pfizer's shot on December 27, almost three weeks after the UK, almost two weeks after the US, and just over a week after Israel. Let down by suppliers The European Commission eventually secured deals for billions of doses from multiple drug companies — enough for European countries to cover more than twice their population, Bloomberg's vaccine tracker suggests. But the bloc was let down in January by vaccine shortages: Pfizer temporarily slowed production as it upgraded its European factories; France received only a quarter of its Moderna supply because of delays; and AstraZeneca cut initial supply by more than 60%, from 80 million to 30 million, because of production issues. Delays drove Hungary to source 2 million Sputnik V doses from Russia and 1 million Sinopharm doses from China to try to get its population vaccinated quicker. Hungary has immunized a higher percentage of its population than any other European country: About 20% have received one dose, according to Our World in Data. These two vaccines are not yet approved for use in the EU generally, but individual countries can choose to authorize their own vaccines. To make matters worse, the bloc continued to export COVID-19 vaccines despite shortages at home. In January, the commission authorized all vaccine exports until the end of March — a temporary measure that has since been extended until June. Maroš Šefčovič, vice president of the European Commission, said Tuesday that from the end of January until March 16, the EU had approved exports totaling 41.5 million doses to 33 countries, compared to 70 million doses delivered within the EU, of which 52 million have been administered. The commission blocked just one shipment of 250,000 doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine from Italy to Australia. "It is hard to explain to our citizens why vaccines produced in the EU are going to other countries," von der Leyen said March 17. Europe has threatened to block exports of any vaccine to countries that do not share some of their own vaccine production. Von der Leyen said Thursday that more than 10 million Pfizer vaccines have been exported to the UK, but none have come the other way. Unused vaccines More than 14.2 million doses have not gotten into Europeans arms, according to the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. The reasons are likely down to individual countries, rather than the European Commission itself. Some Europeans are reluctant to get a shot, in part because of mixed messages about vaccines, particularly AstraZeneca's, which is authorized in the EU. Despite the European Medicines Agency green-lighting the vaccine for all ages, certain European countries, including France and Germany, didn't initially give it to people over 65, citing insufficient data in this age group. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she wouldn't get the vaccine because she was 66. Both countries have since reversed their decision. AstraZeneca's reputation was further damaged by an investigation into blood clots as a potential side effect. The EMA said the vaccine was safe and effective, but a YouGov poll on Monday suggested just 23% of people in France think that the vaccine is safe, for example, down from 33% in January. A 'new pandemic' European leaders said in a joint statement Friday that they would urgently prioritize the production and distribution of vaccines and urged drug companies to fulfill vaccine supply commitments. "We underline the importance of transparency," they said. The problem needs fixing urgently. Merkel said Tuesday that the situation was "serious," and that the country was entering "a new pandemic." "Case numbers are rising exponentially and intensive-care beds are filling up again," she said.
Europe recasts COVID-19 vaccine playbook after first-round flop https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-europe-vaccines-idUSKBN2BO6DA Europe, under fire for fumbling its vaccine roll-out and fighting a fresh wave of infections, is scrambling to speed up the pace of injections and avoid being left further behind by Britain and the United States. In Paris, the city’s hallowed national soccer stadium is being transformed into a mass vaccination hub, while Italy - with 20,000 infections daily - has put the army and civil defence agency in charge, after new Prime Minister Mario Draghi fired the country’s vaccine czar. Over Easter, Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia state is relaxing rules on who can get 450,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine. Clotting concerns have prompted the country to limit the vaccine to people over the age of 60, but North Rhine-Westphalia hopes its measures will now allow more people in that age group to get a first dose. Originally, it had wanted to give the AstraZeneca vaccine to pregnant women and their partners, among other priority groups. “We can’t do that anymore, because I assume that those people ... are under 60,” North Rhine Westphalia’s Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann told reporters. “We didn’t want to bunker these shots, we decided we would get them via vaccination centres to people as quickly as possible.” Europe’s urgency to reverse what the World Health Organization branded on Thursday an “unacceptably slow” start to vaccinations is growing, as variants first detected in Britain, South Africa and now Brazil whip up angst that acting too slowly will let the virus proliferate again. The chaos of Europe’s roll-out has been exacerbated by squabbling over vaccine exports, health concerns over AstraZeneca’s vaccine and some temporary delivery delays affecting Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines. The European Union was slower than Britain and the United States, not only to order vaccines last year from companies but also in approving them. Even once they were approved, vaccination rates have been disappointing. The WHO estimates just 4% of 750 million people in 53 countries across continental Europe, from wealthier Scandinavia to poorer Balkan countries, have been fully vaccinated, a quarter of the U.S. count. While the European Union’s vaccination rate is slowly climbing, only 13.4% of adults in the bloc have had at least one shot, according to Europe’s vaccine tracker. By contrast, more than half of adult Britons and 38% of U.S. adults have received at least one dose, official figures and Reuters calculations show. Still, the situation is improving: A Reuters analysis shows the seven-day average for the four largest countries - Germany, France, Italy and Spain - was at its highest yet during the last week. Since Spain resumed AstraZeneca shots on March 24 after suspending them temporarily over clotting concerns, its seven-day rolling average of vaccinations rose to nearly 200,000 shots a day, from 95,283 daily a week earlier, Spanish officials said. The country is now converting venues like conference centres and, like France, football stadiums, into mass vaccination centres, and expects to inoculate 70% of its 47 million population by the end of summer.
Nothing says "failure" more clearly than this... Exclusive: Germany wants to buy Sputnik COVID vaccine if approved by EU, source says https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-germany-sputnik-ex-idUSKBN2BU389 Germany is about to start bilateral negotiations with Russia to obtain its Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, a source told Reuters on Wednesday, adding that any final agreement depended on Russia providing key data to the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The European Commission told health ministers of EU member states on Wednesday that Brussels was not planning to start talks with Russia on a preliminary contract for Sputnik V as it did with other vaccine providers, a person with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on condition of anonymity. That is why German Health Minister Jens Spahn announced during the virtual meeting that Germany would start preliminary negotiations with Russia on a bilateral agreement to secure the vaccine, the source added. In the preliminary talks, Germany first wants to determine which quantities Russia can deliver and when, the source said. In any case, Germany will only buy the Russian vaccine once it has been approved by EMA and for this it is paramount that Russia provides the necessary data, the source added. Earlier on Wednesday, the premier of Bavaria said the German region will buy 2.5 million doses of the Sputnik vaccine if it is approved by EMA. Markus Soeder, premier of the wealthy southern German state, said the purchase would take place in July.
The good part of that scenario is that I have always advocated having Europe and the U.S independently testing the Russian and Chinese vaccines. Not only as a duty to the world but if we are paying 4 billion into the Covax vaccine program- and they are going to use our money to purchase that shiite- then we need to know more about them through our own studies. The reality is that that is the primary job of the WHO but I do not trust them, nor do many of the recipients of those vaccines. The bad part of the German scenario is that Germany is clearly being driven to look elsewhere and play the edges with marginal vaccines and marginal countries because the EU vaccine effort has failed. The other day, I said that I would be open to forming somewhat of a NATO like arrangement related to vaccines whereby the free world countries pooled resources to look at all vaccines and to mutually assess the "all the rest" vaccines in some structure outside the WHO. Not surprisingly, I am still there and if Biden did something like that, well, I would still be there. It is obscene to think of how little we know about these vaccines despite the billions we have given to WHO. Plus the countries are all doing hand to hand combat with other countries over distribution. Again, this is supposed to be the very reason we have the WHO.
European countries are stepping out of relying on the EU for vaccines, and are directly contacting suppliers. Finland to initiate talks about procuring doses of Sputnik V https://www.helsinkitimes.fi/finlan...procuring-doses-of-sputnik-v-tells-kiuru.html MINISTER of Family Affairs and Social Services Krista Kiuru (SDP) on Thursday revealed in the Finnish Parliament that Finland is set to initiate negotiations with Russia on acquiring doses of Sputnik V, a Russian-developed viral-vector vaccine against Covid-19. She pointed out that the negotiations would not be in violation of the joint purchase agreements of the EU, as the 27-country bloc has yet to make an agreement with the producer of Sputnik V. She declined to speculate on the timetable of the endeavour undertaken jointly by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Hanna Nohynek, a chief physician at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), stated to Helsingin Sanomat that the vaccine has been shown to have a high efficacy in trials. “It’s very effective. Two peer-reviewed articles about it that looked very good have been published in the prestigious scientific journal The Lancet, one about an immunogenicity study and the other about an efficacy study. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has started evaluating the vaccine’s market authorisation,” she commented to the newspaper. Sputnik V uses an adenoviral vector similarly to the vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson. It has not, however, been linked to the very rare cases of unusual blood clots as the other two vaccines in countries where it has been used widely, highlighted Nohynek. Mika Rämet, the director of the Vaccine Research Centre, told Helsingin Sanomat that Sputnik V is comparable to the other vaccines currently in use in Finland. “It compares brilliantly,” he stated. “The efficacy studies have found that it provides an over 90-per-cent protection against the coronavirus disease and extremely solid protection against the serious [forms of the] disease.” Also Rämet highlighted that the vaccine has not been show to cause the same issues as the vaccines by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson. “No safety concerns have been brought up in regards to Sputnik. That’s why it's be a very important vaccine for the vaccination campaigns of many countries. Its use of two different adenoviruses is where it differs from AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson,” he said to Helsingin Sanomat.
In today's news -- the EU is suing AstraZeneca for failing to provide vaccine doses -- while moving forward with Pfizer... EU pivots to Pfizer with world's biggest Covid-19 vaccine deal as it sues AstraZeneca https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/28/business/eu-pfizer-biontech-deal-astrazeneca-lawsuit-intl/index.html The European Union is pivoting to the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus shot with a record agreement to buy up to 1.8 billion doses, as court proceedings in its lawsuit against another major vaccine maker, AstraZeneca, began in Brussels on Wednesday. The agreement with Pfizer, which is yet to be finalized in an official contract, would be the world's biggest single deal for a Covid-19 vaccine to date. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the landmark purchase on Friday during a visit to a Pfizer manufacturing plant in Puurs, Belgium, saying the vaccines would be delivered through to 2023. The deal was announced as pressure mounts on developed nations to stop purchasing more doses than their populations need to ensure there are enough for the rest of the world. An account of the negotiations published Wednesday by the New York Times, based on interviews with von der Leyen, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla and other experts and officials,painted a picture of personal diplomacy between the Pfizer and EU chiefs. It related how the pair exchanged regular text messages and calls over months until it became clear Pfizer could supply the EU with far more doses than the 300 million it had already agreed to. "Multiple leaders of the world, they would reach out to me, from presidents or prime ministers and kings, and general secretaries of organizations," Bourla told the New York Times, explaining that such conversations were not uncommon. Von der Leyen described the difficulties she faced as a leader as it became clear AstraZeneca was not going to deliver on its targets. "I knew that the upscaling of the deliveries would have a slow start by nature in the beginning, and therefore, I also knew the first quarter was going be tough," she said. "I did not expect it to be as tough, because we did not include the possibility that AstraZeneca would reduce deliveries by 75%. That was a heavy setback." Von der Leyen said that the Pfizer deal would include an initial 900 million doses with the option for an additional 900 million, according to the New York Times report. The European Commission did not immediately confirm that detail to CNN. A European Commission spokesperson would not comment on the details outlined in the New York Times report, instead referring CNN to von der Leyen's remarks on Friday, "where she addressed the importance of a productive relationship between the European Commission and the various stakeholders involved in our vaccine strategy." But her confidence appeared to have returned on Friday as she announced the Pfizer (PFE) deal, and sought to repair the image of the European Union as a world leader in global health. "[The contract] will secure the doses necessary to give booster shots to increase our immunity against the virus. It will provide vaccines adapted to escape variants that no longer respond to the vaccines. And it should enable us to vaccinate, if necessary and safe, children and teenagers. And it will consolidate Europe's leadership in mRNA technologies," she said, referring to the technology used in vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. The European Commission announced Monday it was suing AstraZeneca over an alleged breach of its vaccine supply contract, in a dramatic escalation of a months-long dispute over delivery delays that hampered the rollout of shots across much of the continent. The 27 nations of the EU had ordered 300 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca to be delivered by the end of June, with an option to purchase an additional 100 million. But deliveries of the vaccine repeatedly fell millions of doses short. The British-Swedish drugmaker has said it will deliver 100 million doses by the end of June, a third of what it originally set out to in its contract with the bloc. Outside the court in Brussels, a lawyer representing AstraZeneca, Hakim Boularbah, said: "The only statement I can make is that AstraZeneca deeply regrets the decision of the European Commission to take this action to court. They hope the dispute will be resolved as soon as possible." The company has dismissed allegations it was in breach of contract several times. Its CEO Pascal Soriot in January highlighted that its contract is based on the company's best efforts to deliver to schedule and that targets are not legally binding. The full, unredacted contract between the European Commission and AstraZeneca -- first published by Italian broadcaster RAI -- includes a clause that appears to protect the company from legal action for delays in delivery. A court may rule, however, on whether the company did indeed make its "best reasonable efforts" to make good on its targets, as its contract states. A lawyer for the Commission, Rafaël Jafferali, said outside the courtroom Wednesday: "We made our case in court. We explained the situation. Our comments are for the court." A court spokeswoman told CNN that the EU wants the company to catch up on its deliveries to the bloc. The next hearing is scheduled for May 26. The judge is expected to take three to six weeks to come back with a ruling. The lawsuit is the latest in a string of problems for AstraZeneca (AZN). The company came under scrutiny over the way it presented its clinical trial data in Europe in the earlier stages of the pandemic, and more recently in the United States. Reports of a rare but sometimes fatal blood clotting condition following use of the vaccine in younger adults, mostly women, has prompted some countries to restrict its use to only older members of their populations. AstraZeneca will release its first quarter financial results on Friday.
Vaccination rollout finally gaining some momentum in Germany... Germany sets new European record with 1m Covid vaccinations in a day https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/germany-europe-covid-vaccine-record-b932580.html Germany has set a new European record for Covid-19 vaccinations by giving more than one million jabs in a day. Doctors in the country gave out 1,088,952 jabs on Wednesday, surpassing the previous record, set by the UK, of 874,000 on March 20. It was also the first time Germany has vaccinated more than 1 per cent of its population in a day. Outside of Europe, only the US, China and India, who each have larger populations, have given more coronavirus jabs in 24 hours. The country’s vaccine roll-out has sped up in recent weeks after a slow start, and more jabs have been given this month than in the whole first quarter of the year, according to the Telegraph. The acceleration is partly down to larger deliveries of vaccines from the manufacturers, the paper added. Germany is expected to receive 39.3m doses from Pfizer next month and the country hopes to vaccinate all over-60s and those at risk from existing conditions by the end of May. Chancellor Angela Merkel has said it will stop vaccinating by age group once all over-60s have been given the jab and make the roll-out open to all adults by early June. Speaking with the heads of Germany’s 16 states on Monday, she said: “This does not mean that everyone can then be vaccinated immediately. “But then everyone can apply for a vaccination appointment, and they will then be given one according to the supply,” the chancellor added.
The circus continues... The EU is a failed entity, each country in Europe should be individually negotiating for its own vaccine doses at this time. EU row erupts: Macron accused of delaying EU's 1.8 billion vaccines order - 'A disaster!' EMMANUEL MACRON has been accused of blocking the EU's procurement of 1.8 billion vaccine doses, in a move that is angering Germany. https://www.express.co.uk/news/poli...ne-news-pfizer-biontech-european-union-france The European Commission is negotiating the delivery of 1.8 billion Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine doses aimed at providing jabs for children in the bloc and winter boosters for adults by the end of the year. But according to German newspaper Welt, the negotiations, which require the unanimous approval of all member states representatives, are being put on hold by France. The German government said earlier this week the contract had already been fully negotiated. And according to the Commission, the formal transmission of the contract to the member states is imminent. But the steering committee in Brussels has warned the final negotiated contract with the pharmaceutical company is at least one week late. The Commission's health director general Sandra Gallina has expressed anger at the delay, according to some close to the EU chief. nternal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton, who is promoting the expansion of production capacities for vaccines at EU level, expressed concerns at the meeting, meaning unanimous approval was not possible. Eric Mamer, the chief spokesman for the commission, denied Welt's claims. The contract would be approved within the Commission on Friday or Saturday of this week, he added. But the German daily said "several people have confirmed that the French representative in the steering committee for the vaccine order has also been delaying the decision-making process for some time - apparently on purpose: with ever new concerns, technical questions and requests for clarification". They added EU leaders were now fearing a "French blockade" could further delay the bloc's vaccination strategy, already lagging behind those of the UK, the US and Israel. One diplomat told Welt: "That would be a disaster for which France would be responsible." Another EU diplomat told the German newspaper Emmanuel Macron's reluctance to approve the contracts may be driven by his ambition to secure additional advantages for France. For Paris, the delay was due to attempts to bring production capacities for the BioNTech vaccine to France and integrating French companies more closely into production, the diplomat claimed. European health authorities report a total of 155,248,668 does have been administered so far across the bloc. This latest data leaves the EU with some way still to go to meet the target of vaccinating 70 percent of European residents. Currently, around 30 percent of EU citizens have received one dose of a vaccine while only 11 percent have been fully vaccinated. This week Michel Barnier confessed the EU's "bureaucracy" has negatively impacted the bloc's vaccination programme. Mr Barnier told an interview: “It’s true that there were faults (on the EU side) at the start. “Why? Because we wanted to decide for 27 and not alone."
I can’t seem to find it but I saw this morning that the Euros are finally getting their stuff together amd yesterday matched our doses administered for the day. They’re still way behind but we need them. I know they get derided endlessly but democracy is very fragile and not exactly natural to human civilization. We need the euros to thrive coming out of this more than many Americans realize.