- How are they hiding if they are getting criticised anyway (including here).
- UK is getting AZ vaccines at very low price like everyone else.
More likely they haven't applied because Halix plant doesn't meet EMA standards. So either EMA standards are unreasonable (as others are happy) or AZ (or a contractor) have messed something up.
And nationalized by who - they are Anglo / Swedish - so 50% UK / 50% EU?
The Halix site could reportedly make 5-6 million doses per month in January, so someone is evidently content with not even trying to get approval for the plant.
https://www.politico.eu/article/breton-no-astrazeneca-jabs-e...
- A conspiracy on the part of AZ and many of it EU employees (in a part Swedish company with a French national CEO) to deny EU citizens vaccines. They're doing this by refusing to seek approval for Halix.
- There is another reason why they haven't sought approval from EMA. I'd suggest the most likely is that they believe that they wouldn't get approval. Given the issues we've seen so far with manufacturing and regulation during the pandemic this seems to me to be very likely.
In the meantime what are they supposed to do with the vaccines they have already produced (which presumably wouldn't get EMA approval as they were made in a plant that wasn't approved) and which other countries have approved and which will save lives when they are used?
I'm not saying either side is in the right - just that a conspiracy seems the least likely underlying cause.
The particular plant started operating in October 2020, at which point things are far enough along that there is no practical reason for why an application can't be started.
Precisely, which is why I think a manufacturing issue is the most likely reason why they haven't applied for EMA authorisation yet. EU regulators can be and have been very picky.
If you want to buy into the theory that they are choosing to favour the UK and other countries at the expense of the EU then fine. There may be on contractual reason why they feel they have to do that but some sort of conspiracy seems far fetched at this stage.