Only one major Western Country has started a vaccine war, undermined confidence in vaccinations and signed a trade and investment agreement with China. That country is the European Union.
The mainstream media liberally condemns any behaviour by the UK or USA that fails to make it onto the latest moral highground but has given the EU a free pass.
It is interesting to look at vaccine supply to see how the EU operated.
The EU has been six months late in most of its dealings with vaccines. The UK supported Oxford/Astra Zeneca from the start of 2020 and signed a deal to take vaccines in May 2020 but the EU signed a contract with Astra Zeneca in August. The UK concluded a deal with Pfizer in June 2020 but the EU waited until November. The UK deals did not just involve ordering vaccines, they also entailed an $84m contribution to Oxford/Astra Zeneca research funding and granting Pfizer legal indemnity.
In return for funding the development of the Astra Zeneca vaccine the UK obtained a contract for guaranteed supply, with most of the vaccine being manufactured in the UK. The EU waived any contractual right to set delivery dates for the Astra Zeneca vaccines and expected to be supplied from a new plant at Seneffe in Belgium. The Belgian plant is late being commissioned because the EU was late. The EU claims it subsidised research by paying some of the contract price up-front (even though much of the research had been completed by then).
The EU started the vaccine war shortly after discovering that it had not obtained sufficient supplies. The slow authorisation of vaccines by the EMA (European Medicines Agency) meant that other countries had arranged for full scale production and delivery of vaccines a month before the EU even approved the vaccines. The first move of the EU was to threaten to shut the border in Ireland and then to actually briefly close it for vaccine movements on 29th January 2021. After re-instating the possibility of vaccines crossing the border the EU ‘warned it would consider using “all instruments” if the vaccine export bans are evaded’ (City AM).
Having been thwarted by the Astra Zeneca contracts the EU then launched an attack on Astra Zeneca to punish it and send a clear warning that the EU was not to be thwarted. At first the French declared that the data “showed” the vaccine would not work on the elderly and refused to licence it for this group. The French did this even though the vaccine trials only showed weak results due to relatively low numbers of over 65 year olds being tested. Other vaccine trials also gave weak results for some age bands, this always happens in clinical trials, but Astra Zeneca was singled out. Some EU countries then stopped the use of the Astra Zeneca vaccine because a tiny number of patients were getting blood clots (25 cases in 20 million vaccinations). These were non-fatal incidents and, according to the EMA, could probably have occurred in a population of 20m without any vaccinations. The suspension of vaccinations in these circumstances is highly suspect. The huge publicity accompanying these moves were to put pressure on Astra Zeneca and the UK but served to increase vaccine hesitancy and phobia globally.
EU vaccine nationalism is also evident in its international efforts. The COVID19 Advanced Market Committment (COVAX) scheme, which was founded to place advanced orders for vaccines to supply to poorer countries, was funded with $701m from the UK, $150m from Canada, $120m from Germany, $23m from Italy and $12m from Sweden. The scheme was organised by UNICEF, WHO and the Gates Foundation to acquire advanced orders to ensure that vaccines were available. At first the EU gave nothing although policy in this area was an EU responsibility. This year (2021), six months too late, the EU gave COVAX $1bn having realised that their lack of contributions would make them look bad in their vaccine war. The $1bn is hedged about with various schemes unlike the gifts of other countries.
The European Union is acting like a childish bully, issuing threats in all directions to get its way despite the cost in human lives. We saw this behaviour in the way the EU dealt with the Ukraine in 2014 and precipitated civil war. The pro-EU media, such as the BBC, has been backing the EU in its reporting, instead of dismissing the obviously fatuous claims by the EU against Astra Zeneca they have given them all credence. Even the latest US nit-picking of the Astra Zeneca trial was given headline coverage.
The idea that the EU was a beacon of goodness in a dark world was always propaganda and indoctrination. The latest evidence of EU callousness is the EU-China Investment Agreement which was signed this year as millions of Tibetans and Uyghurs have been moved to concentration camps.
The EU is acting “under the radar” with countries such as Iran, where it is the third largest trading partner after China and the UAE. It is also China’s second biggest trading partner after the USA. The EU is almost silent on the South China Sea where China is claiming territory as far south as Indonesia.
Despite all the public support for the Russian dissident Alexei Navalny the EU is pressing ahead with trade and investment in Russia. The EU invested 277 bn Euros in Russia in 2018 and holds 70% of all FDI in Russia.
What is clear from the trade between the European Union and the National Socialist states such as Russia and China is that the EU has no moral qualms. It condemns in public and supports in private.
This post was originally published by the author on his personal blog: https://pol-check.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-eu-shows-its-true-colours.html
Correction: one of those suffering blood clots died. Such blood clots are usually treatable. Full data is available here: https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/news/covid-19-vaccine-astrazeneca-benefits-still-outweigh-risks-despite-possible-link-rare-blood-clots
The EU is not a country, it is an organisation representing a group of countries and not very well !
The EU deals with the external affairs of the states that compose it (foreign policy, migration, trade and security). From the outside the EU acts like and talks like a country. It is even dealing with vaccine supply. It is a country to everyone except UK Rejoiners.