Testing UK-EU Friendship Post-Brexit | 84 comments (84 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Downing Street 10 and Late Trumpism (none / 0)

Using the wrecking ball and the tabloids will propagate the nonsense ... Britain First!

From my diary of March 17, 2020:

CureVac In Germany: Trump's Failed Takeover Bid
In a moment of global crisis, the worst of human kind outs itself ... or society can come together to fight a common enemy. The ultra-narcist in the leader of America came to the forefront: buy the German vaccine and we'll market as ::
FOR AMERICA ONLY!
"We've got the BEST doctors, scientists, hospitals ... we're doing a great job. Very early I closed to borders to China ... saved thousands of lives!"
Donald Trump greift nach deutscher Impfstoff-Firma | Die Welt - 5 Marz 2020 |

The EU Commission took the route of multilateralism ...

'Vaccine nationalism' delays WHO's struggling Covax scheme | FT - Sept. 2, 2020 |
The European Commission said this week it would offer €400m in guarantees to Covax to help supply vaccines to low and middle income countries. Both the commission and the WHO said the exact terms of the EU's relationship with Covax were still being worked out. The WHO also said Germany had joined Covax.
Covax has struggled to convince high income countries to use the facility for their own domestic vaccine procurement. Rich nations including the US, Japan and the UK have done their own private deals to secure doses instead.
...
The WHO has warned countries about the long-term risks of relying on bilateral procurement.
"We have two choices: vaccine nationalism, where a lot of people are vaccinated in a handful of countries, leaving the world's majority unprotected; or vaccine multilateralism, where we protect at-risk populations in all countries and keep our economies working," Mariângela Simão, the WHO's assistant director-general for access to medicines, told the FT.

WHO emergency COVID-19 vaccine listing aims to lift access in poor countries | Reuters - Jan. 1, 2021 |

"This is a small world now. A village, a global village. And we need to help one another. It's only through solidarity and unity that we can defeat this pandemic. It's not through a 'me first' attitude."

-@WHO Director-General @DrTedros today. #COVID19 #ACTogether #VaccinEquity pic.twitter.com/Tk7kTWubbH
— Global Health Strategies (@GHS) January 29, 2021

Amnesia and Gaza Genocide

by Oui (Oui) on Sat Jan 30th, 2021 at 08:49:52 PM EST

Vaccine Nationalism So Predictable (none / 0)

Once again the leading nations in deaths are hoarding PPE supplies, vaccines and basic substances.

COVID-19 and the cost of vaccine nationalism | Rand Europe |
...
Vaccine nationalism adversely affects how well the public health crisis can be managed
Vaccine nationalism can have several negative implications for the production and equitable distribution of potential vaccines across the world.
Firstly, the race observed between superpowers such as the US, China and Russia for who is going to develop a vaccine first could help to drive the successful development of potential vaccines. However, the geopolitical competition could also induce countries to speed up their trials and, to satisfy public demand, push for quicker and riskier regulatory approvals. If it transpires that some of these vaccines are not effective or have severe side-effects, that could further erode public trust in vaccines and complicate national vaccination plans.
Secondly, the current public focus is on the development of the vaccine. However, once there are safe and effective vaccine candidates available, they need to be produced and administered at scale. Vaccine manufacturing is a complex process. The infrastructure needed will depend on the type of vaccine developed and there is also the challenge that poorer countries may not have adequate systems to deliver and administer doses that have been manufactured in different environments, mostly found in the wealthier countries. Moreover, components for a vaccine usually come from different geographical locations that specialize in specific stages of the production process. A 'nationalistic' approach to vaccine production could lead to global vaccine supply chains being interrupted if some countries hoard the key inputs, causing production delays.
Thirdly, in order to secure access to a vaccine, many governments, mostly from wealthier countries, have signed direct bilateral deals with producers of vaccine candidates in order to secure a stock for their own population. This patchwork of bilateral agreements could adversely affect pricing and availability of potential vaccines as wealthier countries bid for limited vaccine supplies. A 'my nation first' approach could lead to an inefficient allocation of early available vaccines, potentially favouring individuals at less risk in high-income countries over high-risk individuals in poorer countries.

Amnesia and Gaza Genocide

by Oui (Oui) on Sat Jan 30th, 2021 at 09:05:07 PM EST
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Re: Downing Street 10 and Late Trumpism (none / 0)