Covid-19: Brexit Saves Lives

 (Drivebycuriosity) - The world is struggling with the Covid-19 pandemic, the numbers of known cases, hospitalizations and deaths are still climbing rapidly. Fortunately there are already some vaccines on the market, saving lives. Unfortunately the number of available doses is still very small, the majorities have to wait a long time to get vaccinated.

Israel leads the worlds with 67.4 vaccinations per 100 people,  the oil-rich United Arab Emirates (population 9.8 million) follow with 45.8 vaccinations. It is an advantage to be small and rich.

 

UK leads Europe with 19.4  vaccinations per 100, ahead of the US with 12.9 vaccinations.

 

 

 

 

 

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The European Union is far behind ( qz.com). Italy reached 4.5 vaccinations, Spain 2.8 vaccinations, Germany 2.8 & France dispensed 3.3 vaccinations.

This is the fault of the European Commission. The bureaucrats in Brussels wasted too much time to decide and they ordered the vaccines too late. To make things worse, the EU "dragged out the talks to secure better prices and product liability guarantees" ( marginalrevolution): "That meant it signed the contracts with AstraZeneca in August, three months after the UK’s contract". 

"The EU secured some of the lowest prices in the world. At what cost?" writes Politico (politico ). The magazine also refers to the European bureaucracy: "Before it could place an order, the Commission had to wait for each EU country to sign the contract". Quartz reports: "Experts say the EU’s attempts to negotiate as a bloc, meet the needs of 27 countries, and play hardball with the pharmaceutical industry led to months of delay that are costing Europeans dearly today" ( qz.com).

Apparently the EU behaved like a monopsony ( a purchasing monopoly) and forced AstraZeneca to deliver the vaccines as cheap as possible, without making profits from it, which doesn`t encourage AstraZeneca to produce as much as possible. Apparently EU`s Scrooge is now a main cause for the current delivery shortfalls.  

If you are 60 and older and you live in the EU you are f...d.  German newspapers report that people aged 80 and older were send home because their were no vaccines available for them.

UK succeeds because the British government isn`t forced to follow orders from Brussels and can go her own way, thanks to Brexit. The UK was the first country in the world to give the green light to a clinically-approved Covid-19 vaccine, on Dec. 2, while the EU approved the Pfizer/BioNTech jab a few weeks later, on Dec. 21 ( qz.com). UK also negotiated contracts which encourage production. The "pattern of Britain investing aggressively and early while the EU takes a slower, more cautious approach has been the hallmark of the vaccine race in Europe", writes AP ( apnews).

 

 

 

 

 

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Currently the UK are giving 0.64 doses per 100 people daily. London plans to offer vaccination to people above the age of 50 and to risk groups by April and to the rest of the adult population by autumn ( bbc). Brexit saves lives!