Delays in rolling out vaccine

Odea said:
Why not? We are not doing enough. To hear on the radio yesterday that our minister for health has not even phoned Astrazeneca about anything was dreadful to hear.
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We are getting vaccines through the EU. What would calling Astra Zeneca achieve?
Odea said:
It shouldn't be the case.
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What should be the case?
Odea said:
Are we not one of the biggest producers of pharma in the world? Could we not have entered discussions with one of the companies about setting up a production line here?
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No, we aren't the biggest though we are in the top ten. The government did have those discussions but we don't have capacity or the correct infrastructure.
Odea said:
Yes, a small country that should have been able to move a lot quicker than we have.
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I agree but we can't.
Imagine a fat man who spend 20 years watching daytime TV and eating pizza and kababs suddenly deciding that he was going to run a marathon.
That's our health service; generations of not putting the patient or the public first has resulted in a grossly inefficient health services which wastes vast amounts of money, lets people die on trolleys and soaks up the money that should be providing critical services to vulnerable children and adults. Covid19 just sits on top of that.

There's more than enough blame to go around for that though I'd put the vested interest groups within the healthcare industry at the top of the list but the people who ignore the problem and for selfish ideological or personal reasons pretend the issue is a lack of resources are close to the top as well; while we ask the wrong questions we'll always get the wrong answers.
 
SoylentGreen said:
My understanding that interest rates are near zero when borrowing money? Could we not borrow now and pay later? Get it sorted.
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What they said;
Paul O Mahoney said:
Who do we buy from?
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odyssey06 said:
We could if there were significant quantities of vaccines not already locked into contracts AND we avoided a bidding war with other countries thinking the same.
But they just aren't there yet. In the short term the EU programme we are in is the only game in town.

Possibly, and this is just me flying a kite, we could be talking to the countries (e.g. US) for a cash and swap deal for AZ vaccines which they have, and don't appear to be using anytime soon i.e. we will use the vaccines now and re-allocate some of our future stock to replenish it.
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joe sod said:
That sounds great and is the line being pushed by the WHO and EU but how realistic is that in all fairness. It could take decades for that to be achieved when you look at how long it took to get polio vaccine to the poorest countries. What are lockdowns and sun holidays and hospitality supposed to remain closed until the poorest are vaccinated?, that's actually what one senior expert was suggesting which is preposterous, some of these experts really have come out with some daft suggestions.
I think alot of this talk is being used to give cover to the seriously deficient European vaccination roll out. Even joe Biden united States is pursuing an America first strategy
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Everybody is pursuing a "Us First" strategy. The WHO is pointing out that such a strategy is morally repugnant and scientifically questionable. Political expedience trumps all though.
I hope the people who are fine with that don't then bleat on about social justice, economic fairness, climate change and other issues which don't actually require them to make any sacrifice when, probably for the first time in their lives, doing the right thing actually requires some personal sacrifice and/or has an actual impact on them so they don't want to do the right thing.
 
@Purple but all those things are lovely sound bites, trying to roll climate change, social justice and now vaccine rollout into the one issue. It just gives a good excuse for ineffectiveness, there is no point in speeding up vaccine rollout because all of Africa needs to be vaccinated aswell, that's not an achievable or measurable target, whereas vaccinating all of Ireland by a certain date is. That's the reason why all this other stuff is being thrown into the mix now. Our economy cannot cope for many more months of this anyway. The European Central Bank had to step back into the bond markets this week to buy more government bonds especially of Italy and Greece to prevent interest rates going back up again. Therefore the markets are saying the time is nearly up for lockdowns and unlimited government borrowing to pay for it.
 
joe sod said:
@Purple but all those things are lovely sound bites, trying to roll climate change, social justice and now vaccine rollout into the one issue.
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Who's rolling them all into one issue?
joe sod said:
It just gives a good excuse for ineffectiveness, there is no point in speeding up vaccine rollout because all of Africa needs to be vaccinated aswell, that's not an achievable or measurable target, whereas vaccinating all of Ireland by a certain date is.
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Why's is not an achievable measurable target?
Vaccinating Ireland by a certain date isn't much use if we keep getting new strains which are resistant to the vaccines.
joe sod said:
That's the reason why all this other stuff is being thrown into the mix now.
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The WHO has been talking about doing the right thing for ages, nearly as long as me!
joe sod said:
Our economy cannot cope for many more months of this anyway. The European Central Bank had to step back into the bond markets this week to buy more government bonds especially of Italy and Greece to prevent interest rates going back up again. Therefore the markets are saying the time is nearly up for lockdowns and unlimited government borrowing to pay for it.
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Ah it can. There's very little chance of any of us starving. If there are new variants against which existing vaccines are significantly less effective then we can look forward to more lockdowns in the future. Doing the right thing morally is also the right thing scientifically and economically. It's just not politically expedient.
 
Sunny said:
Well the Novovax doesn't have 90% success rate against all variants for a start so lets not get carried away.

I am sure the UK do plan on all adults receiving their first dose by June. Ireland is still claiming 80-90% of adults by June.......Politicians make promises. Lets see what happens
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It has an average of 90% efficacy against a variety of strains with the Brazil one at 55%.
It has a 100% record against death or serious illness through Covid.
It really is time to get carried away - once the vaccinations start.
 
Wahaay said:
It has an average of 90% efficacy against a variety of strains with the Brazil one at 55%.
It has a 100% record against death or serious illness through Covid.
It really is time to get carried away - once the vaccinations start.
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Where did you get the 55% figure for the Brazilian variant?
 
Wahaay said:
It has an average of 90% efficacy against a variety of strains with the Brazil one at 55%.
It has a 100% record against death or serious illness through Covid.
It really is time to get carried away - once the vaccinations start.
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So people get a mixture of variants??? Otherwise what is the point of quoting averages.
I have no issue with getting excited and it will be a very useful vaccine but stop making claims that aren't true. It doesn't have 90% success across all variants like you claim. Indeed, the efficiency dropped below 50% in SA and the SA variant when HIV positive patients were included. I would also suggest caution on the the claims of 100% protection against severe illness considering only 5 people got severe Covid in the Placebo group and there were no deaths.

Still welcome news.
 
www.rte.ie

US holding on to AstraZeneca doses in hopes of approval

The White House is holding onto some doses of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine so they can be given to Americans quickly if authorised by the US health regulator, a top administration official has said.
www.rte.ie www.rte.ie

This is really taking the ..is. So, after the row they agreed to 40m by end of first Qtr, they can't even fulfil that.

Upto last Sunday AZ deliveries to EU plus Norway and Iceland 11.2 m doses even if they were to meet 30m ( 33% of original 90m) they'd have to ship 18.8m in the next 3 weeks.......doubt that's going to happen.
 
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There is a huge amount of publicity about AstraZeneca and what they are, or are not doing.

What about the Pfizer vaccine? Can we get more supplies of this? Comment has gone very quiet.

I sometimes think that the HSE is not interested in the Pfizer vaccine because it is too difficult to handle/store etc.
 
SoylentGreen said:
There is a huge amount of publicity about AstraZeneca and what they are, or are not doing.

What about the Pfizer vaccine? Can we get more supplies of this? Comment has gone very quiet.

I sometimes think that the HSE is not interested in the Pfizer vaccine because it is too difficult to handle/store etc.
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I posted this earlier in the week. The EU secured 4 million more doses, but that translates as 46500 for Ireland.
It's a small bump, but does not offset the AZ shortfalls.

www.thejournal.ie

Ireland to receive 46,500 additional Pfizer doses this month, Taoiseach confirms

“When they get here, they will be administered quickly,” the Taoiseach said.
www.thejournal.ie www.thejournal.ie
 
SoylentGreen said:
There is a huge amount of publicity about AstraZeneca and what they are, or are not doing.

What about the Pfizer vaccine? Can we get more supplies of this? Comment has gone very quiet.

I sometimes think that the HSE is not interested in the Pfizer vaccine because it is too difficult to handle/store etc.
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Pfizer are performing very well with 38.1 million delivered with an average of 4.25 m per week over the last few weeks, and as was posted are giving the extra 4m .

The plant at purrs ships to 30 countries and is at full capacity.

Well Pfizer has delivered 450,540 doses and is by far the largest administered vaccine and has there been any issue with its storage, logistics or anything?
NO there hasn't, thats Europe wide.

Total vaccine delivered to EU plus 2 is just shy of 54m
 
The new government "morale boosting" radio ad is even worse than previous ones. It promises that "by June" "up to 80 percent of adults" will have "protection" and that "all available vaccine" is used "as quickly as possible." Promising something makes no sense unless you can clearly define what you are promising without hedging, wiggle room and escape clauses. Otherwise it just creates more cynicism and incredulity in the population.
 
Sunny said:
So people get a mixture of variants??? Otherwise what is the point of quoting averages.
I have no issue with getting excited and it will be a very useful vaccine but stop making claims that aren't true. It doesn't have 90% success across all variants like you claim. Indeed, the efficiency dropped below 50% in SA and the SA variant when HIV positive patients were included. I would also suggest caution on the the claims of 100% protection against severe illness considering only 5 people got severe Covid in the Placebo group and there were no deaths.

Still welcome news.
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I'm beginning to think you haven't got the faintest idea about vaccines.
In the Novovax trial it proved 96% effective against the original virus and 86% agsinst the Kent variant producing an average 90% efficacy.
Even at 55% it prevents death and serious illness.
A flu vaccine only gives you between 40-60% protection so please don't stop making yourself look foolish.
 
Odea said:
Are we not one of the biggest producers of pharma in the world? Could we not have entered discussions with one of the companies about setting up a production line here?
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I'm not sure you understand the logistics,time and money that goes into setting up a vaccine production facility.
Pfizer can't just switch a production line from making viagra into vaccines in an instant.
And people on here seem to be forgetting that AZ are producing this vaccine at cost price - it's okay for us complaining about not being able to have a pint but in poor countries around the world it's rather more serious than that.
 
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