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Good. But at the same time it should be possible to buy through private channels. So we can circumvent and get rid of the terribly inefficient bureaucrats.

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Eu paid just a few euro per dose with other countries (and certainly individuals) paying 20x as much. Seems they are not so inefficient after all..

The end result of the EU saving this small amount of money is that they are now way behind countries like the UK and the US, on vaccinations.

The economic damage to their mistake to do that is will be way larger than any small savings on doses.

Pretty sure the EU paid around the same price as the US

The EU could've issued an export ban for Covid vaccines like the US and UK did but did not want to. There would have been 34 million more doses available until the end of March if they had done it.

But even in these times, the EU rather supports their allies than revert to nationalism. It could pay dividends in the future.

The UK has a vaccine export ban in place?

"Let me be clear: we have not blocked the export of a single covid-19 vaccine or vaccine components." - Boris Johnson

https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2021-03-10/debates/8A8...

The UK has certainly sent a few hundred thousand to Australia - they even did it 'on the quiet' so as not to enrage the frothing tabloid classes.

The UK does not formally restrict exports but it didn't export a single dose to the EU despite AZ telling the EU that they would. This lead to the export controls the EU put in place where the EU can forbid exports into countries that don't export themselves. AZ exported 9 million doses into the UK, the UK didn't export a single dose back.

The UK most likely sent them to Australia because Italy blocked AZ exports to Australia.

The AZ doses that the EU did not receive were from plants based in the EU run by European companies fulfilling AZ production. The UK government even invested £55m over a year ago in one such EU-based plant to bring its capacity up after the Dutch government didn't.

I completely agree. USA has been hoarding millions of doses of then unapproved AstraZeneca (in USA) while central Europe was hit so hard my home city was thinking about changing Hockey stadium to giant morgue since they run out of capacity.

UK received millions of dozes of AZ from European factory, it was never the case other way around.

I may be biased, and I would like to be wrong here. Please tell me how USA and UK helped Europe with vaccines, how they did not succumb into deepest nationalism.

I never witness somebody from USA or UK acknowledge this. Only some comment from Canadians being grateful that they receive vaccines from Europe while USA is not exporting any. (I know this changed later and they started export to Mexico)

I think it's impossible to have a pro-choice viewpoint in discussion websites. People get too nervous and defensive.

Once given full approval and not just emergency use, they can sell directly to the people.

Well, dugs like vaccines are not sold to private parties. At least in country I know.

EDIT: To clarify, vaccines are not sold without a prescription. At least not that I am aware of and where I life. So for me, a sale to a private party was understood as "you walk in and order it". Obviously you can do that with a prescription. That being said, doctors practices are already administering the Covid shots in the EU. Not as unbeaurocratic as the US so.

They are in Europe. You can go to your family doctor and ask for a flu shot even if you are young and don't get it recommended by default. Same as you can go to your doctor and ask for lots of other vaccines because you want to travel abroad for instance. I paid for many vaccines in private in Austria in order to travel to certain countries. Don't see why I shouldn't be able to pay for a COVID-19 vaccine the same way.

Ah, sure. But the produceris selling to the doctor who is then administering the shot to you. Quite different from you buying the shot for yourself. Without an ordonance from a doctor you wont get a vaccine.

> Without an ordonance from a doctor you wont get a vaccine.

Like many people are trying to explain to you, you're just talking nonsense. You can get many vaccinations commercially without any kind of prescription in most western countries.

Many countries even have commercial chains of shops that do this - for example example here's a price list of a company in the UK.

https://www.masta-travel-health.com/Booking/Wellness

In the UK even normal supermarkets offer for example vaccination against influenza as a normal over-the-counter product routinely.

Every year I go to the pharmacy and buy a flu vaccine. I can then get the shot in a way convenient for me.

It’s fairly common for private businesses like pharmacies/clinics/hospitals to have vaccines in much of the world, no?

And you can walk in there and buy it like, say, a bottle of oke? Not without going through a doctor before hand, the same doctor who administers the shot after you picked it up at the pharmacy.

It doesn't have to be the same doctor, but anyway a doctor is not a bureaucrat and buying medicine with a prescription is something that only involves private parties (unless you want to be reimbursed by social security when it exists of course, then social security is obviously involved and it might be public).

If you're advocating for the end of mandatory doctor's prescription for all medicine that's your right, but it's rather doubtful that it would be an improvement over the current system.

Here in the US my doctor is a “private party”. They don’t work for the government, they work at a private business. Nor do I need their involvement to get a vaccine.

The pharmacist at my local grocery store can legally prescribe me a vaccine on the spot at my request, and an assistant can administer it. The pharmacy in my local grocery store is also a private business. For all intents and purposes, yes, I walk into a pharmacy and buy a vaccine.

Here I walk into a pharmacy and say I want a vaccine. They do some paperwork and give it to me. No doctor visit required.

My doctor can give me a vaccine, but it has been a long time since I got mine there. I generally the pharmacy because they give me a discount on some sort of item I'd buy anyway.

Yes, especially for vaccines that are not on a schedule, but given in specific travel circumstances, in many places in Europe you can buy the dose, store it for a few days in your home fridge and then go to a nurse to have it administered (and logged if you need proof).

For many of the vaccines you can just go and buy them and store them yourself without any special permission or prescription. Usually you do not want to do it, simply because it is easier for the immunization clinic to take care of it.

Well yes, that is how you can buy influenenza and many other shots in many many EU countries. I once drove to another country (yo Portugal) to buy a specific vaccine for my sisters kid. Their region had ran out. After getting it from pharma I drove straight to the nurse where they were waiting to get the shot but the kind pharmacist also told me I can store it ik my fridge.

> And you can walk in there and buy it like, say, a bottle of oke?

Yes I can literally walk into a shop near me and buy an influenza vaccination at the same time as a bottle of coke from the same supermarket.

> Not without going through a doctor before hand

No prescription needed, no doctor or nurse involved.

Simple commercial transaction.

Source?

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