Taoiseach Micheál Martin has held discussions with Ursula von der Leyen amid deep unhappiness in the Irish government at the use of Article 16 -- seen as "completely unnecessary" with "explosive political implications" according to a government source
irishtimes.com/news/health/eu…
UK government spokesman says Michael Gove has been in touch with EU Commission's Maros Sefcovic and that the British government is now "carefully considering next steps".
Hours since its publication, the European Commission's vaccine export control regulation has been unpublished from its website
The regulation has come down, and urgent talks ongoing in the European Commission on how to fix it. I'd expect a new version by morning. Too late to stop reports that Article 16 "has been triggered" - a contested idea of what Art 16 is - and impression that Protocol is undermined
What a mess.
Uproar over this in member states is not confined to Ireland.
Very much fuelling exasperation with European Commission, at a time when capitals were already losing patience over vaccines.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin and PM Boris Johnson have had a "constructive discussion", according to Downing Street spox.
Johnson "said the EU must urgently clarify its intentions and what steps it plans to take to ensure its own commitments with regards to NI are fully honoured"
EU Commission is going to publish a clarification within minutes and a new version of their vaccine export control regulation in the morning, I understand.

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More from @NaomiOhReally

30 Jan
Thread on something really important.
At the outset of the pandemic, @DrMikeRyan called on us to "break the chains of transmission".
We haven't. The chains now number over 100,000,000 people.
Why? A central measure is often overlooked: isolating those exposed to the virus. Image
The above graph by @Paul5cott compares policy measures around the world on isolation and quarantine.
A lot of focus has been on reducing the random seeding of new chains of transmission through travel.
That's important - but only one part of containing Covid-19 spread.
It sounds simple: if everyone who currently has the virus right now could be kept separate from other people for about two weeks, infections would drop to zero. Pandemic over.
But individuals cannot achieve it alone. Isolation only works within a system of support and enforcement
Read 14 tweets
28 Jan
My understanding of AstraZeneca's EU doses:
- contract signed in August
- EU expected over 100 mln doses delivered by end-March, possibly 120 mln
- in early Dec, AZ revised down to 80 mln
- on Jan 22, AZ revised to 31 mln
- distributed proportionally: eg Ireland's share is ~1.1%
Meanwhile, on Jan 13, AstraZeneca chief Tom Keith-Roach told a UK parliament hearing it was scaling up vaccine deliveries "very rapidly" and by mid-Feb would be able to deliver two million doses to the UK every week.
Up to that point, 1.1 mln doses had been delivered to UK.
AZ and UK govt have represented UK doses as made in UK, and visa versa for EU.
However, on December 8, the UK's Vaccine Taskforce manufacturing lead Ian McCubbin told reporters that
"The initial supply... actually comes from the Netherlands and Germany."
reuters.com/article/uk-hea…
Read 14 tweets
27 Jan
The EU has asked AstraZeneca to make the contract public as it disagrees with the interpretation put forward by CEO Pascal Soriot, according to an official, who suggests this could be a breach of the contract confidentiality the company had insisted on.
The EU believes there are stocks of vaccines produced in Europe, that it wants to be delivered to the EU to fulfil its contract.
The factory that has an issue is not the most vital to supply, according to official.
"We are trying to get the vaccines that are somewhere in Europe."
The idea that there are separate supply chains for the UK is not reflected in the contract, according to official.
Two factories located in the UK are the primary ones slated for EU supply, followed by one in Belgium (which has a problem) and one in Germany, official says.
Read 5 tweets
26 Jan
EMA head Emer Cooke responds to questions about AstraZeneca's trial data, and the fact that there were a relatively small % of older people in the trial:
"The studies that were done that have been included in the file so far have a very small quantity of elderly populations..."
"This is what is being discussed in the media atm
Our scientific committee is looking at the totality of the data to see what that data means in terms of the populations that were studied and what could reasonably be expected in populations that maybe have not been studied yet."
"This is a normal process in relation to any vaccines. We have to look at the data that’s there, look at the science behind it, and what we can expect that data to mean."
Read 7 tweets
24 Jan
A very interesting area. I have heard from both @WHO and @NICU_doc_salone that what's vital isn't punitive enforcement but SUPPORT for quarantine.
The NZ and Aus legislation on mandatory self-isolation and quarantine are here...
legislation.govt.nz/regulation/pub…
health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/cov…
If you only have a few infections, you can really put resources into making sure they don't spread further.
In Australia, if you have to self-isolate you are handed an official order that explains exactly what you can and can't do... health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/fac…
Getting an official order on paper in itself is enough to get compliance from the vast majority of people, @NICU_doc_salone told me.
The order also notes that if you break the rules, the maximum penalty is a $11,000+ fine and six months in prison... health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/fac…"
Read 7 tweets
9 Jan
How is international media reporting Ireland's dramatic Covid-19 surge that has taken it from one of the lightest-affected in Europe to a global hotspot in a matter of weeks?
Always interesting to see an international perspective.
A press review:
"Ireland is the country in the world where the epidemic is spreading the fastest, ahead of the Czechia and the United Kingdom," reports Belgium's @RTBFinfo rtbf.be/info/societe/d…
"It must be said that the Irish situation is in fact much more serious: if in the United Kingdom, infections have increased by 50% in one week, in Ireland, they have quadrupled!" @RTBFinfo adds
Read 24 tweets

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