Quote (dro94 @ Mar 5 2021 03:51pm)

The EU are having a poor vaccine rollout so are spitefully holding up the shipments for countries that got their supply chains and agreements in principle with manufacturers sorted way earlier

Attempting to bully countries smaller than them is a speciality they have really honed over the years



USA = brexiter descendants with higher BMIs and lower IQs



The European Commission has the power to object to the move and they didn't. Also, the law was recently created by the EU, so to frame this as purely down to the Italians is rather obtuse

Quote (thesnipa @ Mar 5 2021 09:18pm)

Medium iqs u jerk

Quote (Black XistenZ @ Mar 5 2021 11:52pm)

The key word being "surpluses". Right now, the rich countries do not have surpluses of vaccines, and it would not be justifiable (or politically feasible!) for them to send relevant quantities of vaccines to poor countries while their own population isnt vaccinated yet and suffering from various degrees of lockdowns or restrictions as a result.




Regarding the blocked shipment: AZ agreed in its contracts with the EU to deliver a certain amount of vaccines to the EU and has failed to follow up on it. The delivery goals were attached to a "best efforts" clause, which was a huge lapse by the EU's negotiating team, and is the reason why the EU did not invoke export control until now. But when it comes to the shipment to Australia, the Italian government determined - rightfully in my opinion - that they violate the "best efforts to keep our promises to the EU"-clause.

I'm a bit indifferent on this move tbh. Ethically/morally/legally, the Italian government is probably in the right on this one, but it is of course a move which will lead to diplomatic tensions and the AZ vaccine is crap anyway.

Quote (Saucisson6000 @ Mar 6 2021 12:17am)

It has also been blocked because Australia is not considered a "vulnerable" country in the context of the pandemic.
So it's perfectly justified.

Quote (Prox1m1ty @ 6 Mar 2021 12:49)

Well I would argue they were blocked because Italian officials want the vaccines used for Italians not anyone else.
Even if its Australians or Somalians.

Quote (Prox1m1ty @ 6 Mar 2021 12:47)

What leads you to think the AZ vaccine is crap?

Quote (Saucisson6000 @ Mar 6 2021 12:11pm)

don't worry anyway the eu is now explicitely asking italy to unblock the vaccines

Quote (Black XistenZ @ Mar 6 2021 12:19pm)

- lower efficacy than other vaccines
- stronger and/or more frequent side effects than other vaccines
- sketchy data basis when it comes to patients aged 65+, i.e. the very group that needs reliable protection from vaccines the most
- very hard drop in effectiveness in patients with the South African variant, which most likely also means a similarly atrocious effectiveness against the Manaus/Brazilian variant since these two share the same key mutations. the dropoff is so hard that SA stopped using the AZ vaccines and gave its doses away to other African countries.

Quote (Black XistenZ @ Mar 6 2021 12:19pm)

- lower efficacy than other vaccines
- stronger and/or more frequent side effects than other vaccines
- sketchy data basis when it comes to patients aged 65+, i.e. the very group that needs reliable protection from vaccines the most
- very hard drop in effectiveness in patients with the South African variant, which most likely also means a similarly atrocious effectiveness against the Manaus/Brazilian variant since these two share the same key mutations. the dropoff is so hard that SA stopped using the AZ vaccines and gave its doses away to other African countries.