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I think it is mandatory or they at least all signed up for it, that's why you now have Ursula von der Leyen making it clear that it is legally binding and countries should not be undertaking parallel negotiations for vaccine delivery (Germany) which is a breach of the terms. and in bad faith. Was a good piece on it last night on Newsnight. Seems the EU have blundered on this, they turned down an offer from Pfizer for 500m doses at the time the UK was approving it, then went back and placed an order for 200m and another later for 100m but were now much further down the queue and will be delayed in receiving doses.
greentricky-
Tx!
Yeah that's not a good move there, had they moved faster and more flexible then a mass buy would be good.
Pretty annoying as brexit is a predictable shitshow otherwise, so they will just use this to hide the damage.
Like some patients no longer getting specialised cannabis meds from the Netherlands, cos the UK government left it all waaaaay too late to negotiate something. (Hopefully if gets sorted before meds run out)
JWestland
The EU vaccination buying scheme isn't mandatory, is it? Did any EU countries opt out?
Of course being part of a large group means less agility, it is the same in business.
While going it alone means more agility, but a lot less protection.
Local countries have some issues but that's local policies, NL is very slow as the IT system to track vaccinations had to be improved (UK solution, just have lots of unused appointments in some areas atm...) and France is trying to keep anti vaxxers happy by a slower rollout, which is not a choice that makes sense to me.