[quote]I’m a US citizen living in Europe. I don’t regret the move, but I am pissed and disappointed to watch how poorly the EU is managing vaccine distribution and procurement. They were able to coast on Trump and BoJo being fuck-ups, and that smug laziness is hurting all of us.
Agreed, and same here, R392. I am very happy to have moved here and even if it meant a further wait of 6-, 9-, 12-months for my vaccination, I would still be much happier here. All the same, the EU might have done much better, and it is frustrating to read optimistic news reports about a a vaccine manufacturer's promise to deliver "one million" doses when they had earlier promised many times that (and when "1 Million!" represents just 1 or 2% of the population, a frightening incrementalism), when vaccination has reached only 5% of the population, when the previously and confidently stated goal of getting 70% of the country vaccinated by April/May is/was clearly a pipe dream.
Happier or not, I'm not seduced into complacency or silence.
[quote]If a buyer bought AZ vaccine at a discount, then they are at the back of the line for distribution. That’s not AZ’s fault.
R388, of course purchase contracts came with delivery and payment schedules, so over-promising and failure to deliver on schedule is indeed AZ's fault and for them to resolve in an equitable way. And, like AZ, you seem to want to write the rules as the play advances, to suit your game (by your rules, if I were to go to a restaurant and order a $24 hamburger special and, 15 minutes later you were to walk in and order a $40 steak dinner then the restaurant machine would restart to favor your order?)
You want to create a story where the white-hatted AZ is always noble, virtuous, and in the right, while the black-hatted EU is always incompetent, villainous, and in the wrong. There is plenty of blame to go around, and more than two sides to the story. Look at what AZ promised and what they delivered. Look also at the down payments made by the EU specifically to allow AZ to ramp up production to meet its promises to deliver; it was those down payments that were the basis for price discounting in return for funding AZ's increased production.
[quote]The order form — which each EU country filled out — offered a month-to-month breakdown of those doses: 30 million by the end of 2020; 40 million in January 2021; 30 million in February; 20 million in March; 80 million in April; 40 million in May; and 60 million in June.
[quote]The company committed to making its "best reasonable efforts" to ramp up manufacturing to supply those 300 million doses, but the contract also says the delivery schedule is the "earliest possible" estimates of deliveries: "Final delivery subject to agreement of delivery schedule and regulatory approval."
[quote]The company now claims it can only provide 41 million doses by the end of March — at least 20 million fewer than what was promised by the end of January.
[quote]The contract allows EU countries to order an additional 100 million doses, but it acknowledges "it may not be possible" to make the additional 100 million doses before the end of the second half of 2021.