from Hacker News

EU preparing legal case against AstraZeneca over vaccine shortfalls

by reddotX on 4/22/21, 7:00 AM with 108 comments

• by throwaway10110 on 4/22/21, 7:29 AM

  To be honest here in Ireland where majority of vaccinations have been Pfizer people seemed to stop caring about AZ and there is a sizeable chunk of people who are refusing AZ (my own elderly parents and their siblings really scared now and in despair) due to issues recently highlighted (dont shoot messenger, imho risks are small but i can see why some might be hesitant when alternatives are/will be available)

  I say the brand damage to AZ due to their own production issues, Oxford due to what seems to be dodgy research trials (still not approved by FDA) and UK where politicians wrapped the vaccine in union jack and hitched it to Brexit bandwagon for jignoistic reasons, means this vaccine is now tainted in peoples eyes with negative associations. Which is a pitty but i see both sides of arguments.

  TL.DR a month ago i predicted it be pretty much unusable in europe and thats more or less case. As for AZ if they have broken contracts then yes failure should be punished in courts, but IMNAL! for population at large what matters more is that better vaccines are available faster and this vaccine doesnt lead to further hesitancy.

• by jpxw on 4/22/21, 7:34 AM

  This is the contract in case anyone wants to read it: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/api/files/attach...

• by jarmitage on 4/22/21, 7:33 AM

  Does anyone know why all of the geopolitical discourse in the UK and Europe has been around arguing over a small supply, rather than about increasing manufacturing capacity?

• by JI00912 on 4/22/21, 7:43 AM

  > the point of the legal proceedings is to make it mandatory for AstraZeneca to provide the doses set out in its EU contract

  The point of a contract is always that fulfilling the contract is mandatory.

  That said, legal proceedings won't make anything go faster any more than other attempts at what sounds like plan economy.

• by blfr on 4/22/21, 7:56 AM

  The quality of leadership has really declined. Western countries seem to be run exclusively by petty managers.

  There's almost no "we shall fight them on the beaches" or "not because they are easy but because they are hard" and way more process, lawsuits, committees, etc. As it turns out, you need some charisma and vision to effectively do things.

• by throw-8462682 on 4/22/21, 7:38 AM

  At this point, AZ must really regret having gone down the road of working with Oxford to supply a Covid vaccine. They are not even making money off it at the moment. Pfizer on the other hand hit gold with their BioNTech collaboration. They are making 10+ B this year and probably even more in brand value. AZ on the other hand lost billions of brand value. Is there a morale of this story?

• by stupidcar on 4/22/21, 7:39 AM

  A couple of months ago Politico also reported that the EU had waived its right to sue in the AZ contract[1], so what gives? Would it kill Politico to give some additional context when a story seems to blatantly contradict its own reporting?

  [1] https://www.politico.eu/article/coronavirus-vaccine-europe-c...

• by throwaway4good on 4/22/21, 7:57 AM

  The EU is hitting top bureaucratic legalize idiocy. Who cares if AZ breached the contract if it takes years of legal battle to find out?

  The EU needs to focus on getting more vaccines. I would suggest to start trail/approval processes for the vaccines from Russia and China. In particular China has shown the capacity and a willingness to export.

  So let's eat our pride and focus on getting the pandemic under control.

• by codebeaker on 4/22/21, 7:40 AM

  Sorry if this is considered off-topic, but I mus thave surely missed something about why AstraZeneca is seemingly the only choice on the vaccine market.

  I am German, we developed the Pfizer vaccine, but there is _no_ news about it, it seems like the AZ vaccine is the only option.

  Is it a case that Pfizer wasn't viable, wasn't used here, or only made lucrative contracts with other countries, or is it being used, quietly without drama because they are fulfilling their obligations, unlike AZ who seems to be in the news every day.

  I celebrated the success of the scientists (Turkish immigrants) who developed it, after the waves and waves of racism in Germany, having immigrants develop a vaccine helped vindicate some of our nation's political decisions to open the doors and borders, that we do in fact benefit, and, sadly now they seem to be invisible again.