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Bojan Pancevski Profile picture
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4 Jan, 5 tweets, 3 min read
Big scoop: health ministers in EU’s pharma powers Germany,France,Italy & Netherlands joined forces to obtain vaccines for the bloc (kinda nascent EU Op Warpspeed) but their leaders forced them to abdicate responsibility to the Commission, which then failed to get enough doses 1/3
This is the letter sent by the healthcare minister to the Commission, drafted in slightly apologetic tone, asking the EU executive to take over vaccine procurement. Result: the EU, pop 450m, is now stuck with mere 200m BioNTech-Pfizer and 80m Moderna jabs by the autumn (at best).
Meanwhile, the new coronavirus variant that has spread from Britain could make obtaining herd immunity more difficult: as many as 80% of the population might need to be immunised to halt the pandemic wsj.com/articles/covid…
Germany and Denmark could follow UK leadership in delaying the second dose of the covid vaccines theguardian.com/world/2021/jan…
On November 11, when it was clear that vaccine by @BioNTech_Group & @pfizer was the market leader, the EU ordered 200m doses, with an option for another 100m. On November 17 the EU ordered 400m from CureVac, a German company that hadn’t even started phase 3 trial. Why?

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Bojan Pancevski Profile picture
5 Jan
Some facts on EU vaccine procurement:
1. The EU only ordered 200m doses from @BioNTech_Group & @pfizer on *November 11,* when it was already behind in the queue (the US ordered on July 22). The EU *refused* an offer to order 500m doses. Image
2. Despite the BioNTech/Pfizer jab winning the global race, the EU stuck to 200m. On November 17 however it ordered 400m doses from CureVac, German firm that hadn't even started Phase3 trial. Only on *December 29* did the EU order additional 100m, again trailing the US
3. Data indicating that BioNTech/Pfizer were ahead of the pack emerged already in July. On *October 6* the EU regulator EMA started a rolling review based on extremely promising late-stage trial data, which was obviously available to EU officials wsj.com/articles/germa…
Read 8 tweets
Bojan Pancevski Profile picture
15 Dec 20
The U.S., Canada and U.K. have started vaccinating, but the region where the Pfizer-BioNTech shot was developed is still waiting for it. Europeans are becoming unsettled with the wait as pressure grows on regulators to act fast. With ⁦@drewhinshaw⁩ wsj.com/articles/europ…
The EU’s chief drug reg­u­la­tor EMA is com­ing un­der pres­sure from some gov­ern­ments to au­tho­rize a Covid-19 vac­cine de­signed and pro­duced on EU soil, as the con­ti­nent strug­gles to con­tain a deadly wave of cases ahead of Christ­mas wsj.com/articles/europ…
At an EU sum­mit last week, at least three heads of gov­ern­ment com­plained that it was be­com­ing po­lit­i­cally un­ten­able to ex­plain to their cit­i­zens why the U.S. and Canada were ad­min­is­ter­ing a Eu­rope-made vac­cine ahead of the EU wsj.com/articles/europ…
Read 6 tweets
Bojan Pancevski Profile picture
6 Dec 20
The Swedish #Covid-19 experiment is over. After a severe second #coronavirus wave - which authorities said won’t happen - the government imposed some mandatory restrictions to curb hospitalisations and deaths. My report via ⁦@WSJ⁩ wsj.com/articles/long-…
After a surge in Covid-19 infections led to rising hospitalizations and deaths, Sweden has abandoned its attempt—unique among Western nations—to combat the pandemic through voluntary measures alone @WSJ wsj.com/articles/long-…
With to­tal Covid-19-re­lated deaths reach­ing al­most 700 per mil­lion in­hab­i­tants, in­fec­tions grow­ing ex­po­nen-tially and hos­pi­tal wards fill­ing up, the gov­ern­ment had to shift wsj.com/articles/long-…
Read 17 tweets
Bojan Pancevski Profile picture
2 Dec 20
Wonder how the UK beat the US and the EU to a #coronavirus vaccine? Here's an explainer by @jennystrasburg, @drewhinshaw and yours truly. Via @WSJ
wsj.com/articles/how-t… via @WSJ
Pre-Brexit, the U.K. regulator’s massive portfolio of Europe-wide medicine evaluations (about 370). The agency has top staff - ~1,300 to EMA's ~900 - and is able to act much quicker outside the EU committee system. Brexit have it political license, too wsj.com/articles/how-t…
U.K. used emergency powers to authorize drugs on its own, allowing the MHRA to review the drug outside the EU framework even before the end of the Brexit transition period. All other EU members have the same power, but none have declared plans to use it wsj.com/articles/how-t…
Read 4 tweets
Bojan Pancevski Profile picture
2 Dec 20
The married couple Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci, founders of ⁦@BioNTech_Group, invented the⁩ first #COVID19 vaccine to be authorized in the West. But their jab is a byproduct of 30 years of cancer research. My piece via ⁦@WSJ⁩ wsj.com/articles/how-a…
In January, days before #coronavirus was first diagnosed in Germany, Ugur Sahin, the CEO of @BioNTech_Group, used this knowledge of mRNA to design the vaccine candidate on his home computer within hours. That jab was now authorized in Britain wsj.com/articles/how-a…
Dr. Sahin was born in Iskenderun on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast in 1965. He moved to Germany four years later when his father was recruited to work at a Ford factory near Cologne as part of a policy to rebuild postwar Germany with foreign labor wsj.com/articles/how-a…
Read 12 tweets
Bojan Pancevski Profile picture
2 Dec 20
The U.K. authorized emergency use of a #Covid-19 vaccine developed by @Pfizer and ⁦@BioNTech_Group⁩ , becoming the first Western nation to clear a coronavirus shot. With ⁦@jennystrasburg⁩ via ⁦@WSJ⁩ wsj.com/articles/pfize…
Britain becomes first nation in West to get a coronavirus shot; earliest doses to go to most vulnerable. Via @WSJ wsj.com/articles/pfize…
Milestone for #Brexit Britain as it becomes the first western nation - ahead of the US and #EU - to authorise a #coronavirus vaccine. The jabs mainly made in Germany will first be administered in the U.K. this week wsj.com/articles/pfize…
Read 10 tweets

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