So far the EU has exported 41.6 million doses of the vaccine (the largest importer being the UK)[2]. Both the US and the UK have exported 0 vaccines.
[1] https://twitter.com/davekeating/status/1372897635577761803
[2] https://twitter.com/AlexTaylorNews/status/137362147260701081...
The UK (companies) on the other hand are exporting vaccine components (fatty lipids) that enable those factories to produce vaccines for not only the UK, but the EU, and Australia, if it ever receives its doses.
Whereas a similar contract between Germany and Biontech (Germany paid biontech $445 million to help develop the vaccine) didn't include a clause defining export priorities. Pfizer-Biontech is exported all over the world.
Canada, for example, gets their Pfizer-Biontech from the EU, instead of Michigan where they're also produced.
The social media is full to the brim with "EU exported because they're nice guys" including the top comment on HN.
Or any opinion these days? Social media. The mute button, echo chambers, confirmation bias, lack of critical thought, and so on?
I think the events of the last few years will keep psychologists in business for decades.
A Douglas Adams quote feels apt:
"So long as you can keep disagreeing with each other violently enough and slagging each other off in the popular press, you can keep yourself on the gravy train for life. "
There are convoluted aspects of who manufactures it, where it is manufactured, what countries govern those companies, trade laws and agreements, what the contract was, what were the policies, what export/imports took place, and what is planned.
People are talking past each other.
People keep saying this, but the EU is not exporting. Companies with facilities in the EU are exporting. Those vaccines don't belong to the EU; they belong to whoever bought them. If the EU prevented their export,it doesn't mean they own more vaccines, unless the plan is to steal the property of other countries and companies.
US did ban export.
I’m all for the free market, but if export bans are ok for US it’s ok for EU, if it’s not ok for EU then it’s not ok for US.
What people will remember is the winner, and we will have increased brain drain because of it.
Fyi this is completely untrue. The EU can (and has, now) block export of any product it wants. The US forced all domestic vaccine production sites to work for the US, while the EU failed to do so.
The US also didnt secure such contracts, they simply forbid any export. The UK is helped by AZ not sending anything produced in the UK to the EU, despite the EU contract stipulating that doses would also come from the UK.
After that initial batch, a further 8 million EU doses were exported to the UK, and a further 46 million EU doses were exported to other countries, including the US.
Just this second batch would have tripled the EU's vaccination rate so far.
The EU has been pushing the conspiracy theory that the reason there's a shortfall in supply of the AstraZeneca vaccine there is because they've been exporting it all to Britain, but there's no evidence for that which anyone can find and the numbers don't add up either.
USA bought vaccines from everyone a year ago and opened the check book, giving them billions without knowing if the vaccine will work. And then put all their weight to help them find factories and stuff. So USA gambled relatively nothing (Covid has cost many trillions) and gained a lot.
EU doing what they do best...meetings. USA bans exports in this sense: if Pfizer agreed to give USA 50 million shots in March, no exports until that number is delivered. Seems fair.
They did take some money from Germany though, because it came without strings.
Is it a coincidence that they were the first vaccine approved?
So to be fair it should be Germany getting all those Pfizer shots rather than the US.
Can we agree that $20 or even $50 Billion is NOTHING to USA or EU at this point...each month in delays costs more. USA realized that a year ago and blocked doses from all, including 100 million Pfizer doses in July 2020. https://investors.pfizer.com/investor-news/press-release-det...
The EU did a bad job but we have to keep the facts straight.