(Drivebycuriosity) - Europe is suffering a third wave of Covid-19 infections ( cnbc). Germany, France, Italy and other European countries report sharlply rising numbers of new cases. But there is an exception: Great Britain. UK has much lower numbers of new confirmed cases & hospitalizations - and the numbers are stagnating or even sinking.
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The difference is caused by Brexit! Since Great Britain left the European Union the government in London can decide independently from the EU and the European Commission in Brussels. Brexit allowed London to choose a different vaccination strategy, permitting them to avoid the mistakes of the dysfunctional EU. The UK already administered 44 doses per 100 people and 41% of the Brits received at least on dose. The EU is far behind (tables below)
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There are two reasons for the British success on the vaccination front.
1. 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). The UK also negotiated contracts which encouraged 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).
2. Great Britain chose a first-dose-first (FDF) strategy. While the US and the EU countries follow the original recommendations by the vaccine producers and try to give the recipients 2 doses in a short time the British delay the second dose some months which allows them to vaccinate twice the number of people in a short time.
New findings support the British strategy. It turned out that AstraZeneca works better when the second dose is injected after three months (not just after four weeks as originally recommended spiegel.de). According to AstraZeneca a longer waiting time raises the efficacy by 80% (papers ). The Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer & BioNTech generates robust immunity after one dose and can be stored in ordinary freezers instead of at ultracold temperatures, according to new research and data released by the companies (marginalrevolution). A single shot of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is 85% effective in preventing symptomatic disease 15 to 28 days after being administered, according to a peer-reviewed study conducted by the Israeli government-owned Sheba Medical Center and published in the Lancet medical journal.
The British FDF strategy became already a success story. Vaccinating more people with the available doses saves more lives. The British strategy helps to stop the spread of the pandemic because it reduces the number of people who could infect others faster than the 2-doses strategy. With fewer infected hosts, there are fewer opportunities for new mutations to arise—reducing available genetic variation on which selection can act. The FDF strategy also allows to reopen the economy faster without causing another wave.
As a result London started already vaccinating people above the age of 50 and plans to immunize to the rest of the adult population by autumn ( bbc).
Quite contrary the European Union is a disaster, caused by the incompetence of the EU authorities and their bureaucracies (the reason for Brexit driveby). 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 (lower) 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). In December the EU complained
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.
The situation got worse this month when Germany and other European countries temporarily stopped administering AstraZenec because about 8 recipients (out of millions) got blood knots, which slowed the vaccination rollout even more. In spite of the severe slow down of the vaccination rollout Germany and other countries are keeping schools open which fuels the spread of the virus further.
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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. Many people in the EU are dying thanks to the EU incompetence and contempt for human beings.
Brexit saves lives!
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