But it was you that said legal experts win the argument, not me.
Whatever the detail is, we come back to the basic facts:
Kate Bingham has done a fantastic job of picking vaccine winners and backing them early, the EU have not.
We'll never know about the losers. And so many runners have been backed that in roulette terms, when you're gambling on multiple possibilities, you're gambling against yourself. Therefore, logically, you are reducing your odds of losing, but at much greater cost. Of course, in roulette terms, only one can be a winner, but in the development of vaccines if one works there's a good bet that they'll all work pretty much.
Fortunately and coincidentally, AZ have proved a winner for UK and a face-loser for EU, but only really due to the furore created by Brexiteers claiming it as a failure of EU.
Agreed the temporary consideration of invoking Article 16 was a monumental mistake. But as far as I can see, that has been their only real mistake.
The problem for the EU is they have a duty to represent 27 countries, so that puts a responsibility on them to secure the best deal.....which means longer negotiations. UK simply paid a higher price and stuck it's order in.
The situation between AZ and EU would have been no more favourable if the member nations had made their own deals with AZ.
Indeed, it probably would have been far, far worse.
If the two biggest suppliers fall short of expected supply, you can't blame the customer. You can inspect the contract to identify the responsibility for resolving the problems.
EU just want to be assured that AZ (and other suppliers) have not, or are not diverting supplies to other customers.
This govt has made some howling failures over the past 12 months, but on vaccines they've done an amazing job.....for the first time we can call it world beating without taking the pizz.
Agreed, they have done a good job. It could easily have all come crashing down. They were fortunate, and needed that outcome due to the previous mistakes causing the unacceptable mortality rate.
Don't forget, the AZ vaccine is still approved on limited clinical trials. Hence the decision by US not to approve it yet, (their system requires their own testing regime), and Germany and France not using the vaccine for over-65s.
I actually wonder if the governments terrible Covid response has led them to throw the kitchen sink at vaccines to get them out of the hole.....which given the new variants could well be the case.
Let us hope that the eventual outcome will be beneficial for all concerned. It's a global problem, not a competition.
To paraphrase the Brexit mantra, nothing is resolved until everyone is protected.
which it is. Our lot let us know that they are staying out of the argument and later that our plant can supply the EU. Backed up on the TV by a political none entity rather than one of the main men by using rather carefully chosen words. Still no real details though.
