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The vaccine wars shouldn’t surprise us given how COVID has blighted life around the world – politica
The vaccine wars shouldn’t surprise us given how COVID has blighted life around the world – politicalbetting.com
The increasingly bitter political wrangling going on about vaccines reminds me of the plot in what’s regarded as the greatest movie ever made “The Third Man”. This it will be recalled was based on the Graham Green novel and was set in post-war Vienna. It was about the murder of a racketeer who was exploiting the shortage of penicillin supplies of which could lead to people living rather than dying.
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'Hate won't stop us'
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11667/12201010/tuanzebe-racially-abused-after-sheffield-united-defeat
edit Curse you!
This means nothing to me.
(the old ones are the good ones)
(And yes, I have seen Citizen Kane as well.)
Worth it just for the zither soundtrack, especially at the end, but there's so much more to enjoy.
"Increasingly bitter"????
The BBC is reporting that
'The EU and the UK-based Covid vaccine maker AstraZeneca have vowed to work together to resolve a bitter row over supply shortages to the 27-member bloc'
I think that should be "some political leaders" and some don't face elections...
https://twitter.com/paulwaugh/status/1354722974591569926
Obviously him being the voice of Unicron in Transformers: The Movie was number one.
Shut up, I was 7 at the time, and I was am obsessed with Transformers.
Vulnerability - bit different.
The issue though, whatever happens to teachers, remains parents, so I hope TSE's friend is in a position to clear that up for us.
Once vulnerable over-40s have been vaccinated I don't think anyone will be too worried about schools going back.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-55577426
I have a horrible feeling you might be right about vaccines...
Police are calling for public assistance in tracking down a man who was allegedly part of a group Covid deniers who tried to drag an elderly patient out of critical care at East Surrey Hospital.
Tobe Hayden Leigh, 45, believed to be from Kent, is wanted in connection with a public nuisance offence after videos posted on social media showed a group entering the hospital to visit a family member on Thursday.
After entering the critical care Covid ward, police say they were abusive to hospital staff who asked them to wear masks and refused to leave when asked to do so.
Videos posted online by a YouTube account in Mr Hayden Leigh’s name appear to show an ICU doctor decrying the group for apparently removing the oxygen from the elderly patient.
The doctor pleads: “My main concern is his safety and at the moment you are making him unsafe. You have taken his oxygen off, he is going to die if we don’t put it back on!”
The patient appears to suggest he wants to leave the hospital, arguing with doctors that he won’t die if his oxygen is taken off.
“If you go home, you will die,” the doctor says, later telling the group the patient will “last about half an hour” if he leaves hospital.
Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust say they allow any patient who has capacity to make decisions about their care to do so, including leaving hospital.
The man livestreaming the incident then argues with the exasperated doctors, telling them the gravely ill patient should be put on the unproven treatment of “Vitamin C, Vitamin D and Zinc” if he is unhappy.
Standing in the Covid ward he challenges doctors to “define coronavirus”, claiming it “hasn’t been proven to exist” and is “no longer a highly contagious infectious disease”.
https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/covid-denier-nhs-east-surrey-hospital-police-hunt-elderly-man-tobe-hayden-leigh/
https://twitter.com/zachculpeper/status/1354520794643234816
UK Vaccine Taskforce 2020 Achievements and Future Strategy
End of year report
1. VTF has built an attractive portfolio of the most promising vaccines for the UK population
The VTF’s strategy to build a diverse portfolio of vaccines across different formats gives the UK the greatest chance of providing a safe and effective vaccine, recognising that many of these vaccines in development may fail. The VTF focused on vaccines that could be in the clinic in 2020, which could be manufactured at scale preferably in the UK, which had the potential to secure rapid regulatory approval and be delivered ready for deployment as rapidly as possible.
2. VTF has shaped new collaborative arrangements to ensure that successful vaccines will be distributed internationally
The COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access facility (COVAX), to which the UK has made up to £548 million available, will provide access to vaccines for lower income countries including one billion doses for developing countries worldwide. The UK through the VTF has helped to develop the COVAX facility and has shared its expertise and people with COVAX to support their global efforts.
3. VTF has supported the UK’s industrial strategy by reinforcing long-term vaccine capability to prepare the UK for future pandemics, helping to place the UK at the forefront of vaccine R&D, manufacturing and distribution, but more is needed
One of the most interesting and imaginative aspects of the VTF’s work lies in the plans it has laid for future resilience and industrial leadership in this vital area. The VTF has provided targeted funding and focus across three broad areas that support the UK’s long-term pandemic preparedness.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/944308/VTF_Interim_report_-_5th_publication.pdf
Notably the UK, with about one seventh the population of the EU has contributed substantially more to COVAX than the EU has, so fewer sermons on "we're all in this together" from UVDL might be in order
Now when countries which moved quickly are seeing the fruits of that labour with rapid vaccination of their vulnerable and short timelines for everyone else they have realised just how badly they fucked it.
The difference is that in 2024 the British people can make Boris pay for all of the fuck ups and more that 100k deaths that are on his hands. Who in Europe will pay for the extra hundreds of thousands that will die because there's no vaccines. No one. The national politicians will pass the buck and the commission is impossible to sack.
Leave voters were lambasted time and again for pointing out just how undemocratic the EU is and now handily, just after we've left, we have an example of it, one that is undermining the western alliance with threats of export bans.
This, to me, goes beyond just vaccines. It shows that a political class that isn't under pressure from voters is inherently worse than one that is. The EU commission is a technocratic body that has failed at basic competence on almost everything to do with the virus and now they are trying to shift the blame into AZ and the UK government.
It is not democracy if there is no mechanism for voters to remove those failures from power.
https://twitter.com/otto_english/status/1354706298588319745?s=21
Following a tearful plea from Ursula von der Leyen, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has authorised the transfer of vaccine doses from Scotland to its needy EU allies.
Ms Sturgeon said: “As we move along our pathway to Independence and rejoining the EU it’s so important that we Scots show solidarity with our European brethren.
“It’s heart-breaking to hear how that callous English bounder Boris Johnson elbowed his way to the head of the queue and ran off with all the doses.
“We Scots are made of better stuff and I look forward to the fond embraces of Ursula, Michel, Emmanuel, Angela and all my pals over there just as soon as I am able to hop over the German Sea and join them in Brussels for a fish supper.”
And he would have been helping to create anti-biotic resistance.
https://twitter.com/faisalislam/status/1354722391495221249
The few £bns that we spent throwing money at the plausible options seems money well spent - while the Eu by messing around are between 3 to 9 months behind us and as they need more possibly even further behind.
Remember scaling manufacturing isn't instant and it's blooming hard.
BTW, Bild has picked up on your point that if the EU shuts down vaccine export, other countries will shut down materials export, stopping all EU vaccine production.....
Desk
Thump
No wonder the Darwin Awards have been suspended.
'The lucky ones died. The unlucky ones went off their heads.'
Not sure how accurate it was, but I remember reading in an article about the film a few years ago that two doctors working with the British army in Vienna, who had provided penicillin to locals in the belief they were helping, were so upset by one scene they had to leave the cinema.
Because the rampers (ramping is abuse, of course, but these are individuals, not one party - unless the exchange/platform knows otherwise) are just buying the stock.
It then went up because of the short squeeze as the hedgies tried to cover.
They were just capitalising on supply shortage, not spreading rumours.
Although.....
12th January 2021
Today, the European Commission concluded exploratory talks with the pharmaceutical company Valneva with a view to purchasing its potential vaccine against COVID-19. The envisaged contract with Valneva would provide for the possibility for all EU Member States to purchase together 30 million doses, and they could further purchase up to 30 million more doses.
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_21_51
Mr Salmond has other ideas.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55838272
Given its Gove, that means we should expect widespread disruption.
See you later.
If the EU really does walk this path then it shatters the western alliance and they wave goodbye to their pharma industry almost overnight.
If the reports that the shorts are naked and over 100% are correct, the market abuse is the short sellers. Not those holding contracts and shares.
The suggestion that shares should be loaned without the consent of the owner, just so that the hedges can play with them, is particularly risible.
And how was it achieved? I find it awkward to admit this, but it's hard to avoid the conclusion that Cummings was behind it. It has all the hallmarks of his approach: by-passing the cumbersome workings of the normal Civil Service approach and instead get a small, talented, goal-focused team to super-charge the initiative. Of course it's an approach with great risks, but in this case also with an even greater pay-off.
Of course virtually the entire media coverage last year on the Vaccine Task Force was devoted to garbage about 'cronies' and 'sleaze'. The fact that this was a spectacular success was lost in the deluge of faux-indignation.
We might owe Cummings an apology...
When Czechia started to really struggle in the autumn they asked the EU for all the ventilators they could send from this scheme...they got 30.
https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/opinion/columnists/alex-bell/2849884/team-sturgeon-switches-indy-policy-as-salmond-smells-a-political-comeback/
Then the Lighthouse Labs project came in.
On checking Wiki (sorry) it seems that Lime’s cuckoo clock speech was added by Welles himself. Must be up with Rutger Hauer’s bit in Bladerunner as memorable script contributions by actors.
France, Spain, Germany, Italy - not so much.
Cronies, sleaze and ethics really do matter too though. We owe him no apology, but if he was involved in this we should thank him for that part of his service.
We should recognise the flexibility and nimbleness of the civil service and the Ministers who balanced appropriate oversight and governance measures with respect to spending taxpayer money, with the making of big, difficult decisions at pace. Without this streamlining of decision making, it is unlikely that the VTF could have delivered this successful range of outcomes in such a short time.
With vaccine roll out, they have to keep expanding capacity, no let up. There is a not insignificant chance that by the time we get through the population, we might well have to go round again with a new vaccine for all these mutate versions.
This is an interesting read on how the EU got themselves into the mess they are in https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-coronavirus-vaccine-struggle-pfizer-biontech-astrazeneca/
Price and liability are not things to talk about when you need manufacturing capacity and rapid delivery.
Capacity, speed and price are 3 sides of a triangle on which you can select only 2. And they picked the wrong one to insist upon (before being late to start the project in the first place).
The more I read that article the more I'm surprised the EU have any vaccines at the moment in time.
On cronies and sleaze - yes, sure, if it's real. But most of the coverage was garbage, with tenuous connections blown up out of all proportion.
The benefit of being such a large power is that even when in the wrong, they can still get their way to some degree.
Edit: Sorry, misread your post!
So one of the tricks the buyers are doing is revoking that right as they purchase their shares making it even harder for the short sellers as the risk of having naked shorts no longer attached to valid shares gets greater and greater.
Some people, I won't name names, have been relentlessly attacking the government and Bingham etc for not religiously abiding by oversight rules during the pandemic. But you can't and do it right.
Now it is coming home to roost. As was said last year when discussing this: you can have it cheap, right or fast - pick two out of three.
This needed to be done quickly, it needed to be done right. So by series of elimination ...
I know Sanofi are shifting existing capability to do this already, but throwing money at them to duplicate this effort in say Poland - it wouldn't have an immediate return but further down the line they'd have vaccine robustness.
Starmer trying to re-write history.
Can you work out what the PR contracts might have been about ? That's small beer to the overall success of the project but seemed a reasonable point from the hit pieces back in November.
Greasing the wheels with various global drug companies perhaps ?
https://twitter.com/rosscolquhoun/status/1354737588939194375?s=21
However, I do worry that, because the government made such a mess of other aspects of the pandemic - self-isolation, contact-tracing, quarantine - that we have now created the ideal conditions (a high infection rate and people with partial vaccine-acquired immunity) for the virus to mutate to evade the vaccine.
Maybe we will get lucky. I certainly hope so.
Do you think they've learned that yet?