I agree with you Annie. Probably the last place on my list of places to visit. It has just never appealed to me.
I agree Twink. We both have our second jabs booked now, Mrs LD got the call today and is booked for next week. I doubt they would have called if they didn’t have the vaccine.
Just the usual sour grapes from that Europe place or whatever it’s called. 
Good for them.
AstraZeneca is as you said an Anglo-Swedish pharma company, something which you and the EU don’t seem to be able to quite fully grasp.
It isn’t owned by the UK government.
Just like vaccine manufacturers with sites in EU member countries are not owned by the EU themselves.
Not that such a detail seems to matter to the EU who want to dictate who these companies can do business with, apparently.
AstraZeneca vaccines are made here in the UK too you know.
Our VMIC is due to begin production very soon with a capacity of 140 million doses per year plus, in addition to the two existing manufacturing sites.
Then there’s the manufacturers Novavax and Valneva with their UK production thanks to UK funding too, companies which so far the EU hasn’t even placed firm orders with.
Novavax certification for use in the UK is due imminently.
That’s why your EUrophile nefarious types like Breton and Von der Leyen are gnashing their teeth and trying every dirty trick in the book to stop the UK from staying ahead with their vaccination plan.
It’s not working so far and it never will.
As EU citizens can see for themselves as restrictions continue and as fatalities continue apace.
These EU citizens will not forget the useless lot that let this happen.
It is indeed and my post above probably explains why: they hate to see anybody do better than them.
Especially us.
You can always use american leftovers. An average of just over3m doses a dayare being administered in the US with the country benefiting from significant local supply of the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. The AstraZeneca vaccine, which it has yet to authorise, may not be needed there.
The single-shot Johnson & Johnson jab, which will rapidly speed up any immunisation programme,*would not be available for the UK until July, though it will reportedly be approved by the UK regulator within days.
It is expected to be available in the EU, where it has already been approved, from 19 April.
Whilst the EU are approving new vaccines I am just happy to say that almost half the UK population have already been vaccinated with at least one injection! I suspect the UK’s rapid thinking is the reason for this, but why were the EU so slow in trying to protect their citizens? 
Simple.
They’re useless.
That’s not just some bilious offhand remark but instead it’s based upon evidence.
Look at every time the EU faces difficulty or crisis and their “we are in charge as a single united union” stuff falls apart.
Even without their vaccine fiasco, the migration farce proved that very clearly.
That one is still trundling on too without being resolved, after how many years?
You’re crowing about 3 million vaccinations a day in a country with a population of over 332 million?
Here we’ve had to trim our plan for a little while but still yesterday we vaccinated almost 0.6 million in a population of just 68 million.
Give or take a little that’s the same number of jabs per head, so what are you on about?
And who cares what vaccine is being given as long as it save lives?
If you were fair you would be asking the USA for their leftovers to be sent to the EU since they obviously are in far greater need.
Would that be the Johnson & Johnson jab that is also under investigation for clotting problems?
If you really are that desperate for that one you go for it.
Judging by EU difficulties you are.
We’re due to approve the Novavax jab any day now and we are already producing it here in the UK.
While the EU haven’t even been able to make a confirmed order for any of that one, the useless bunch that they are.
Many countries in the EU have 5-6% fully vaccinated, we have 10.5%. But in the US it’s over 20% who have had both jabs. Israel is doing best at 54% Russia is doing worse than the EU despite producing its own vaccine at less than 4%. Hungary is doing better than we are at 12%. So I do think the EU discussions are a bit smoke and mirrors. They obviously have supplies.
Best thing that could happen to the EU is for it to break up. It’s not what it was supposed to be in the beginning and has grown into a vile evil beast, far too big for it’s own good.
Countries should look after themselves and sort out trade between each other without all the bossy demands coming from the EU, with all their rules.
And you can tell! The breaking up of the british empire stopped all those bossy demands and rulings coming from london so countries could start looking after themselves!
Novavac? Is that the vaccine that injects weakened viruses? If your natural resistance is low it gives you the disease! No thanks.
Cases have been rising in Chile amid concerns that the country was too quick to release lockdown restrictions and worries about the possible impact of new variants of the disease.
This week, Prof Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, said the case of Chile was “a good corrective” to the idea that a single vaccination programme can eliminate coronavirus quickly, as he warned that rapid success for the UK was not assured.
Of particular concern in the UK is whether the South African variant becomes widespread as it is thought to be*partially resistant to the AstraZeneca vaccine, which accounts for about 58% of jabs administered in the UK.
I agree with you Roxy! The Common Market seemed like a good idea but what the EU didn’t tell us was that they intended to take control of all it’s member countries and turn them into one huge country!
I enjoy visiting Europe & seeing all the countries different ways, but one day they will all be the same & live under the same rules.
It is easier for small countries to look after their own peoples needs, but how can one huge government understand the individual needs of each small country?
Novavax. 
Your understanding seems incredibly poor; you might like to look at how flu vaccines for example work to discover that (Shock! Horror!) they work by basically injecting a weakened (or innactivated) virus too.
Something like 7 billion of those are dished out every year but if you’d rather not it means there’s an extra one available for somebody else that doesn’t want to risk death.
A degree of caution - especially just before restrictions are eased - is a sensible approach, isn’t it?
It’s good of you to point out our caution.
I will however remind you again that our modernized AZ jab to tackle variants is due to be rolled-out this autumn.
I’ve seen nothing about similar updated vaccines from the other manufacturers.
Oh dear.
“South Africa variant can ‘break through’ Pfizer’s vaccine”
Again: I will remind you that our modernized AZ jab specifically designed to tackle variants is due to be rolled-out this autumn and that I’ve seen nothing about similar updated vaccines from the other manufacturers.
I will politely suggest that you worry about you and yours together with the rest of the EU.
It is they that seem to be far more at risk.
Hi
Spot on Twink.
Always in favour of the Common Market and still am.
The EU is very different and not something I wish to be part of.
It’s exactly that question scotland is asking, isn’t it?
What a difference, isn’t it, now you’re free?
An inactivated virus can’t replicate. If a virus can’t replicate how can it give anyone a disease?
On 18 September 2014 Scotland had a referendum on “Should Scotland be an independent country?” They voted NO! We obviously can’t have a new referendum every few years…but I suspect that is what the EU were hoping the UK would do, regarding Brexit!
It certainly is, now the UK can make their own decisions on how our country us run…and considering the pandemic, we are doing alright!
I bet the sex industry in Amsterdam has missed the money though… all that social distancing must have caused a lot of problems! 