EU covers slow vaccine approval with spats against drug companies.

It now seems that the EU's European Medicines Agency may approve the Astra Zeneca vaccine at the end of January. They also delayed approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine by almost a month compared with other countries. The slow approval process means that the drug companies invested in countries such as India and the UK where vaccines were needed in vast numbers rather than the EU.

Pfizer/BioNtech has had to redevelop its plant at Puurs in Belgium to meet EU demand and so has been slow to supply vaccine in the first few weeks. Astra Zeneca has had a similar problem with its Belgium partner Novasep being unable to meet the demand.

As we know only too well in the UK, when the EU is thwarted it turns to bullying as the first option. Even before the approval of the Astra Zeneca vaccine the EU is threatening the company with legal action. The EU's first negotiating ploy is that "it did not rule out penalties for AstraZeneca" and in a stupid attempt to threaten Pfizer and bully the UK into releasing Astra Zeneca doses from the UK supply the EU hinted that it would stop Pfizer supplies to the UK from the EU.

Thank goodness the UK has left the EU. There are two lessons from this, the first is that the UK should carefully assess its strategic independence from the EU (medicines, key industries, weapons etc) and the second lesson is that something must be done about the BBC which is covering the EU incompetence as somehow the fault of the UK. Our national broadcaster must be honest but not anti-British.

26/01/2021

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