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THE UK GOVERNMENT and the EU are engaging in an increasingly fraught stand-off over vaccine supplies with British media warning about a potential “vaccine war”.
The cause is the ongoing dispute between Anglo-Swedish pharma company AstraZeneca and the EU over the multinational’s supply of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.
On Saturday, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen threatened to halt exports of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccines if the bloc did not receive its promised deliveries first, escalating a row that has fanned international tensions.
“We have the option of banning a planned export. That’s the message to AstraZeneca: you fulfil your contract with Europe first before you start delivering to other countries,” von der Leyen told Germany’s Funke media group.
Von der Leyen said pharma giant AstraZeneca had delivered only 30% of the 90 million vaccine doses it had promised for the first quarter of the year.
The company has blamed production delays at its EU plants but European officials are furious that AstraZeneca has been able to deliver its UK contract while falling short on the continent.
The row is increasingly focused on a factory in the Netherlands that is still awaiting official approval to begin production, but where both sides are claiming the future supply of the AstraZeneca jab and of key ingredients, EU and UK sources said.
The EU is “simply trying to have the contract with AstraZeneca respected,” a source close to von der Leyen told AFP.
The company has delivered less than 10%of the planned doses for 2021. It is therefore normal for us to ask that these doses be delivered as planned to Europeans.
The backdrop to the standoff is the UK’s more advanced vaccination programme which has seen an estimated 42.7 shots administered per 100 people, compared to the EU’s 10.4.
There is concern in the UK that an EU export ban on vaccines could delay its vaccination programme by up to two months.
It comes as the UK is also beginning to feel the pinch of a supply shortfall from the Serum Institute of India — the world’s biggest vaccine maker — which means the rollout’s next phase covering people in their 40s will be delayed from April until May.
'The commission knows the world is watching.'
— Sophy Ridge on Sunday (@RidgeOnSunday) March 21, 2021
Ben Wallace says if the EU blocks #COVID19 vaccine exports to the UK, 'it would be damaging for a trading block that prides itself on the rule of law'. He adds the EU would face 'reputational damage'.https://t.co/dr15MQYTQ2 pic.twitter.com/V6KaV72pmu
Speaking to Sky News, UK defence minister Ben Wallace said that “the world is watching” and that the EU was seeking to “balkanise or build walls” around vaccine supplies that could “damage its reputation globally”.
Wallace hit back by warning that the manufacture of the Pfizer vaccine depends on supplies from the UK.
“The grown-up thing would be for the European Commission and some of the European leaders to not indulge in rhetoric but to recognise the obligations that we all have,” he added on The Andrew Marr Show.
Monday’s TIMES: “Don’t start vaccine war, Britain tells EU leaders” #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/lXllIuUHJ0
— Allie Hodgkins-Brown (@AllieHBNews) March 21, 2021
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to speak to EU leaders this week in an effort to dismiss any plans for a banning of vaccine exports.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4′s Today programme this morning, UK health minister Helen Whately said that what’s coming out now is “some speculation, some conjecture and an element of rhetoric.”
“What is actually important is that the EU and no country should follow vaccine nationalism or vaccine protectionism,” she said.
We expect the European Union to stick by their commitments and I’m sure the Prime Minister will be in contact with European counterparts – he speaks to European counterparts regularly- but I don’t think this debate is helpful to anybody.
“What matters is for all countries to be getting on and deploying and vaccinating their population.”
Asked whether the UK would retaliate if the EU did impose a block on vaccine exports, Whately said: “I don’t think it is very helpful to speculate at the moment. I don’t think this is a helpful line to go down.”
‘Angry and upset’
#CoronavirusVaccine: Will the EU stop some vaccines coming to the UK?#Marr asks EU Commissioner for Financial Services Mairead McGuinness, as Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Emmanuel Macron meet next weekhttps://t.co/djTsDLNCM2 pic.twitter.com/PveHh0oLXH
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) March 21, 2021
Also appearing on the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme yesterday, Ireland’s EU Commissioner Mairead McGuinness refused to be drawn on any potential vaccine export ban but said that von der Leyen has said that everything is on the table.
She said that EU citizens “are growing angry and upset at the fact that the vaccine roll-out has not happened as rapidly as we had anticipated”.
“Both the EU and the UK have contracts with AstraZeneca and my understanding is the company is supplying the UK but not the European Union,” she said.
“We are supplying the UK with other vaccines, so I think this is just about openness and transparency.”
- With reporting by © – AFP 2021 and Press Association
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Supposed to be at black spots but I only ever see them on safe dual carriageways. Money making racket
Ever tried shooting fish in the deep blue sea? Try it, then try shooting them in a barrel, I bet the barrel will be easier! Now they’re on dual carriageways and motorways for the same proverbial reason!
I’d love to know where the ass*ol*s who are red thumbing work. I have a fair idea though.
A money making racket. Hiding like snakes in the grass in low speed zones. Contract should be ripped up. How they got away with this for so long is a disgrace.
Only see them in 50 zones hidden. Have you ever tried to do 50 in a 50 zone when ones not around I have and to say I’ve been abused for it is an understatement. Never seen an accident in these zones either in all the years I’ve been driving the same road. I have on the other hand seen numerous accidents in other stretches of the same road and never see a go safe on in these places. Must not bring in the revenue on these stretches.
on the N11 in Wicklow is a perfect example of lazy revenue generating practices of the gatso vans, typically parked just inside a lower speed zone or just before the motorway where they catch people easily. these are locations with low accident rates and levels but easy to catch people. Interestingly these were never the places that the guards used to do manual speed checks at.
Here here. Got caught there last week, it’s less than 300 metres from the 120 sign for the motor way! What a money making racket
Of course it’s not working – it’s a complete con job.
‘Speeding’ as they love to tout it, isn’t the problem you’d believe. Even the RSA’s own website only attributes less than 10% of accidents attributable to ‘speed’. Not forgetting of course that ‘speeding’ in the RSA’s own reports is the sum of those who break the actual legally posted limit PLUS those who weren’t legally speeding, but who were driving ‘too fast’. (wtf that means.).
Still, a private company in Kerry gets €50m so that’s grand. Jobs for the boys & all that.
I said that here on the journal over two years ago and 90% gave red thumbs.
Was there not a plan to change the speed limit to common sense on those dodgy country roads a few months back?
This is Ireland Shawn. Nobody likes a smart arse!!
Wrong.
Speed limits are not set by Superintendents, they are set by Engineers from your local council.
And the speed van company’s get reimbursed by the number of hours they complete not the number of tickets.
Never let the truth get in the way of a good moan.
Thank you.
..irrelevant. The car you describe isn’t breaking any law.
Yea Darragh. Good to see they believe me at last.
Got caught speeding once in Dublin. Was bracing myself for a hefty fine and points to arrive in the post. When it finally did arrive, it had my name and address but a photo of another car and a statement saying I was speeding in Donegal! Couldn’t make it up
Give us an unjust system & we will get around it. There is a big emphasis on speeding not because its a major cause of road deaths but because its an easy target & a goid revenue generator. Its the very same as the tachograph legislation.
If it isn’t working in the first place then how can confidence be restored?
I recently got caught doing 60 in a fifty zone which may seem fair enough, the thing is in was leaving the town of birr and the van was right at the edge of the 50 zone, surely catching people speeding in the town would be of more benefit.
What lesson did I learn from this except the safety cameras are an extortion racket and have nothing to do with safety.
A revenue collecting exercise only, cherry picking locations by placing the vans immediately inside speed limit areas. Proof of the pudding, fatalities up! Government want money. Whole system should be reviewed. Speed van locations should be in areas where fatal accidents occur, not soft targets?
People should be allowed drive at any speed they like. Driving on footpaths with any vehicle over 1400cc should, however, be strictly limited.
We need more cameras not fewer
Sure we all know EXACTLY The spots they always check on the n11 because of the 60km speed limit! They always do the same places over and over again! Stillorgan had a van for about a month recently goin into the slip road and they always check just after ucd going up the underpass and then again behind the bus stop on the opposite side! There are marked points for Garda only spaces on the side of the n11 also just for catching people speeding ! All so predictable! Will you find cameras tho down the country on small roads where people actually drive dangerously? No! Because more chance of people in Dublin going a few over to make some money! How many people die on the n11? Nobody! You can’t go fast enough. Also I think most collisions happen because of stupid people not checking mirrors and blind spots not because of speed!
Speed never killed anybody. If your car is designed to travel at 200KPH then there is no reason not to drive at this speed. Planes go much faster and never kill anybody because of their speed. It makes sense.
Never on small roads ? Ha ! Try the R347 – they’re in two spots near my front door regularly. Just in time for commuters to work too. Amazing coincidence. The road even fails the criteria for warranting a camera.
Well said. Every day you can predict the road crashes they are down the country in the middle of the night ie, 2am
Also some of the speed limits are crazy the n11 has two speed limits 80km/h and 60km/h why not have the same speed limit. When you try to do the speed limit in the fast lane people are on your tail just the other week I had a woman overtake me and then when she got in front of me she gave me the two fingers through her rear view mirror and kept them up for a while to make sure i saw her
Rachel, figures publicly available for 2012, 2013 and so far this year, show that just less than 60% of road deaths happened between 6pm and 10pm and were mostly from Tuesday to Saturday. Not at 2am or nights. 15% were night time 10pm to 6am and the other 25% was 6am to 6pm.
Ah sure didn’t berties mate get the contract the same person who owns the swanky hotel outside of Kilkenny city,And who signed off on the contract no other than the failed school teacher Dempsey, The same man who when minister for transport said in order for people to avoid damage to their cars,They should drive slowly in to the pot holes.
Also this company has done a grey hound and gone off shore regarding accounts.
The Hollywood to Glendalough road is a nightmare on Sundays – lunatic motorcyclists doing insane speeds and overtaking two or three cars at a time even on bends.There are numerous roadside memorial plaques to motorcyclists who have died in accidents on that road and other windy roads around Wicklow but I have never seen a speed van on that particular road.
But sure if your a motorcyclist, you can never be caught by GoSafe, as they only detect approaching traffic….
No requirement for front reg plates on bikes, so no recordable offence committed.
So much for the law being fair….
Speeding tickets are for everyone , when we see the points been scrubbed every day for some sections of society then the law is not the law of the land as it does not cover the people equally across the land .
It’s working for someone, from the Irish Examiner Saturday, July 20, 2013
“The Xavier McAuliffe-led consortium, that operates the army of speed camera vans across the country, recorded operating profits of almost €50,000 per week last year.
The Go Safe consortium secured the €80m Garda contract to operate the speed camera vans in 2009, and new accounts show the firm recorded operating profits of €3.12m in the 15 months to the end of Mar 31, 2012 — or €48,000 per week, on average.”
Some of the locations are a joke, there is a location near me that hasn’t had a crash in 20 years yet every few weeks there is a van there. Don’t get me started on when the van is on an incline! I would also argue that glaring at the speedometer is taking the drivers eyes off the road thus making it things even worse
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