☣ Coronavirus ☣

[2H76]

It's complete insanity tbh ... can only imagine it's political - remember when Germans took legal action against Spain for stopping them visiting second homes last year ? I suppose it's a mini-test case as to real life impact of allowing tourists in under a testing regime in advance of Summer but given the faltering vaccine rollout in the Balearics you have to question whether the policy makers really do have a screw loose.

That raises the issue that they can travel without the vaccine, we can't and a lot of us have already had one dose. I reckon there should be no travel between places unless 50% + of adults from both have had the full course + three weeks. Unfortunately that means as Spain is being so slow at the moment with the vaccine, they should be off the travel list until autumn.
That's assuming everyone vaxxed can still carry the virus and be contagious...I think that's the case but less contagious with the vax than without? Anyone??

 

[kimajy]

That raises the issue that they can travel without the vaccine, we can't and a lot of us have already had one dose. I reckon there should be no travel between places unless 50% + of adults from both have had the full course + three weeks. Unfortunately that means as Spain is being so slow at the moment with the vaccine, they should be off the travel list until autumn.
That's assuming everyone vaxxed can still carry the virus and be contagious...I think that's the case but less contagious with the vax than without? Anyone??

EU has no plans to restrict inbound travel to the vaccinated, that's never been on the cards and is considered discriminatory in the EU. Current data indicates you can still contract and transmit the virus even after being fully vaccinated but the impact on you (and viral loads driving your risk to others) are expected to be much lower, hence the initial idea that testing requirements be removed for the vaccinated. There's no objective justification for that if the idea is not to allow infected / infectious people to travel tbh but it's a convenience for those people lucky enough to have had both jabs.

UK fundamentally doesn't want to import variant cases and undo the progress we've made too soon in advance of booster jabs effective against mutations. Since any meaningful travel permissions will have to be accompanied by relaxation of quarantine requirements it's less and less realistic to rely on vaccine passports. That's not to say it won't end up happening !

 

[giorgioa]

Am I reading this right from another site - Germans can't travel around their own country (?) BUT they can travel overseas for holidays, such as Mallorca?

Spain to welcome German visitors over Easter break despite restrictions on national tourism

While the regions are under a perimetral lockdown in a bid to curve coronavirus contagions, the country remains open to European travelers, many of whom have already booked vacations in the Balearic Islands

english.elpais.com

German travel sector disappointed by the sustained lockdown – DW – 03/23/2021

While flights to the popular holiday island of Mallorca are still possible, domestic tourism is to be put on hold. The industry has reacted with incomprehension. Many are facing bankruptcy.

www.dw.com

Mallorca braces for influx of German tourists after removal from risk list

Germans warned that Covid restrictions still apply as locals express frustration at Berlin’s move

www.theguardian.com

I know Spain wants tourists, and now, but if they import covid while the vast majority aren't vaxxes, then won't that simply mean a rise in cases, and the tourist industry will be shut again for most of the summer, so having tourists now is actually counter-productive??

Actually it has been like this within EU since a few months. I speak about Italy, we are not allowed to change region, but travelling within EU also for tourism is allowed (of course doing the test).

 

[TiffyBarrett]

Actually it has been like this within EU since a few months. I speak about Italy, we are not allowed to change region, but travelling within EU also for tourism is allowed (of course doing the test).

I believe this has now changed for the Balearics (I saw a notification yesterday). Travel to us internationally is now closed (can only travel with a valid reason) but we can now visit any other of the island without a reason

someone correct me if I'm wrong here

 

[stivi]

I believe this has now changed for the Balearics (I saw a notification yesterday). Travel to us internationally is now closed (can only travel with a valid reason) but we can now visit any other of the island without a reason

someone correct me if I'm wrong here

nah direct int'l arrivals are still allowed (with a negative PCR test)

 

[lee111s]

I can't get my head around the figures of 20+ BILLION pounds being spent on the track and trace thing.

My brain literally cannot understand it

I’m not defending it at all, however I believe a lot of the cost is the actual tests.

Privately they’re £130 ish.

 

[kimajy]

So the EU have found Astrazeneca's 30m stockpile of vaccines in Italy and now plan to curb exports for 6 weeks to effectively seize them. For businesses considering establishing themselves in the European Union they really need to think again - vaccines are private property of the drug companies and they would be well within their rights to just destroy them to teach the EU a lesson that bullying does not get them anywhere

All this could get very nasty and it is high time the European Union was taught a lesson about interference in private industry. They cannot write a contract worth more than a piece of toilet paper and now want to write woolly legislation allowing themselves room to wriggle liuke a bunch of worms in a jar to spin and lie their way out of their own systems. and inept legal frameworks Manufacturing needs a safe haven country to centalize all parts of the supply chain without Government interference. If I were running those companies (and any others vulnerable to this sort of thing) that's what I'd be looking for right now. I'd be making plans already to disinvest from the EU and flee, but one or more countries need to step forward and provide the environment and guarantees necessary to move forward.

We are witnessing the collapse of the European Union as a reliable and trustworthy base for international operations. 3 months after Brexit and the safety of the Union for global trade and manufacturing has disintegrated.

 

[MrHullMysterious]

Is the EU been watching too many bond films and/or smoking crack? (seem super paranoid)

Coronavirus: EU and UK try to end row with 'win-win' on vaccines

After weeks of tension over Covid vaccine supplies, the two sides now say they are working together.

www.bbc.co.uk

The Italian government said the health squad of the military police had gone to "verify" batches at a plant in Anagni, near Rome, last weekend after a request by the European Commission.
...
La Stampa newspaper reported that the UK was a possible destination for some of the doses but a UK government official said it was not expecting such a delivery. The Italian government said "the batches that were inspected were all aimed for Belgium".

 

[MrHullMysterious]

So the EU have found Astrazeneca's 30m stockpile of vaccines in Italy and now plan to curb exports for 6 weeks to effectively seize them. For businesses considering establishing themselves in the European Union they really need to think again - vaccines are private property of the drug companies and they would be well within their rights to just destroy them to teach the EU a lesson that bullying does not get them anywhere

All this could get very nasty and it is high time the European Union was taught a lesson about interference in private industry. They cannot write a contract worth more than a piece of toilet paper and now want to write woolly legislation allowing themselves room to wriggle liuke a bunch of worms in a jar to spin and lie their way out of their own systems. and inept legal frameworks Manufacturing needs a safe haven country to centalize all parts of the supply chain without Government interference. If I were running those companies (and any others vulnerable to this sort of thing) that's what I'd be looking for right now. I'd be making plans already to disinvest from the EU and flee, but one or more countries need to step forward and provide the environment and guarantees necessary to move forward.

Posted at same time about EU and Italy

It's a plant that does filling vials for loads of companies. EU seems to have gotten idea someone changing the deliver to address or summat

 

[kimajy]

Posted at same time about EU and Italy

It's a plant that does filling vials for loads of companies. EU seems to have gotten idea someone changing the deliver to address or summat

It's all very Stazi-like ... Astrazeneca should withdraw from its EU contract, shut down manufacturing operations there, move them to UK and ban supplies of its vaccines to EU countries from other plants. Not as if they're in it for the profits - and come Booster time EU wants to be able to supply itself anyway.

I think UK has big penalty clauses for AZ if other Nations impede the priority flow of vaccines to the UK so AZ can counter-sue EU for losses arising from its interference.

 

[JayDR8]

Just getting my head around the sheer size of one billion is hard

The best way is to quantify the difference between a million and a billion, when a million is such a massive number also.

How long is a million seconds? Less than 12 days

How long is a billion seconds? Over 31 years

 

[AntonioGeordio]

So the EU have found Astrazeneca's 30m stockpile of vaccines in Italy and now plan to curb exports for 6 weeks to effectively seize them. For businesses considering establishing themselves in the European Union they really need to think again - vaccines are private property of the drug companies and they would be well within their rights to just destroy them to teach the EU a lesson that bullying does not get them anywhere

All this could get very nasty and it is high time the European Union was taught a lesson about interference in private industry. They cannot write a contract worth more than a piece of toilet paper and now want to write woolly legislation allowing themselves room to wriggle liuke a bunch of worms in a jar to spin and lie their way out of their own systems. and inept legal frameworks Manufacturing needs a safe haven country to centalize all parts of the supply chain without Government interference. If I were running those companies (and any others vulnerable to this sort of thing) that's what I'd be looking for right now. I'd be making plans already to disinvest from the EU and flee, but one or more countries need to step forward and provide the environment and guarantees necessary to move forward.

We are witnessing the collapse of the Europe as a reliable and trustworthy base for international operations. 3 months after Brexit and the safety of the Union for global trade and manufacturing has disintegrated.

I was actually just reading about this.

Love the use of the term ‘discovered’.

They conveniently discovered 30 million doses.

Dutch-made vaccines found in Italian bottling plant.

EU blames UK.

 

[W_I_C]

The smear campaign was already ludicrous, but sending in military police - that is openly hostile... all for a vaccine they haven't wanted and have discredited at every opportunity

 

[tclubber]

A real public uprising is imminent here if this continues.

If hanging Ursula von der Leyen is among the demands, I might even join the uprising

She will be responsible for the most deaths in Europe since Adolf Hitler, the second year of lockdowns is her fault too, and she is still in office for some reason

So the EU have found Astrazeneca's 30m stockpile of vaccines in Italy and now plan to curb exports for 6 weeks to effectively seize them.

I think Pfizer already warned against that - because the UK could retaliate by prohibiting exports of Pfizer ingredients to the EU.

The behavior of the EU is disgusting. We negotiated a bad contract, didn't do anything to establish a reliable supply chain (we had a whole year for it). Now it would be much smarter to offer vaccine manufacturers high bonuses for early delivery and see money do its wonders, but instead we are shooting us in the foot with export controls

 

[FlatErik]

I was actually just reading about this.

Love the use of the term ‘discovered’.

They conveniently discovered 30 million doses.

Dutch-made vaccines found in Italian bottling plant.

EU blames UK.

Astra Zaneca is not Dutch though. It's a British-Swedisch company with their HQ in London. It's being produced in Oxford, Keele and Wrexham.

But speaking of this...yesterday I learned the Jansen vaccin gets produced in Leiden, The Netherlands but then packed in the USA before getting returned to the EU / Holland for distribution.

 

[Neo95gt]

That's assuming everyone vaxxed can still carry the virus and be contagious...I think that's the case but less contagious with the vax than without? Anyone??

While possible, early research suggests that asymptomatic spread from vaccinated people isn’t much of a thing. Forgot where I saw that, but I remember reading a few studies that showed that....thinking it may have been out of Israel.

 

[FlatErik]

Also...I've noticed that the UK base here is kinda biased when it comes to this AZ thing.
Do we really know what has transpired in those negotiations?
From what I'm reading the EU is not blaming the UK...but blaming AZ for holding back loads of vaccins saying they have production problems...but in the meantime are negotiating new contracts with countries outside the EU.
The truth will be somewhere in the middle...

 

[AntonioGeordio]

Astra Zaneca is not Dutch though. It's a British-Swedisch company with their HQ in London. It's being produced in Oxford, Keele and Wrexham.

But speaking of this...yesterday I learned the Jansen vaccin gets produced in Leiden but then packed in the USA before getting returned to the EU / Holland for distribution.

Yeah I know mate.

Report I read stated the vaccines were made in AZs Halix plant in the Netherlands.

 

[kimajy]

Astra Zaneca is not Dutch though. It's a British-Swedisch company with their HQ in London. It's being produced in Oxford, Keele and Wrexham.

But speaking of this...yesterday I learned the Jansen vaccin gets produced in Leiden, The Netherlands but then packed in the USA before getting returned to the EU / Holland for distribution.

AZ is also produced in Holland and in many other countries imminently, as they gift their technology and know-how all around the world to allow countries to undertake their own manufacturing. Without them doing this in Australia for example that country would likely have almost no supplies at all.

 

[MrHullMysterious]

AZ is also produced in Holland and in many other countries imminently, as they gift their technology and know-how all around the world to allow countries to undertake their own manufacturing. Without them doing this in Australia for example that country would likely have almost no supplies at all.

Oh, so it's the evil socialist vaccine then!