I know it's hard to imagine this, after months of shortages. But the numbers are there. US overbooked vaccines—we didn't know which would work. Now we do. The supply of approved ones made *here* will soon exceed our population. Let's let go of ones that won't be approved in time.
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We can figure out the politics of where AZ should go. There are countries with large outbreaks (especially of that terrible B117 variant) in Europe, for example. Other countries elsewhere may ask for them, solving the "optics" issue. What's on us is to demand they get used, now.
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Because it's not endangering anyone. It's approved in the UK, Canada, EU and through the WHO coalition, in 140+ countries and has been given to 17 million people in UK and EU. The US FDA requires the trials it requires, and that's a different discussion.https://twitter.com/4030lisa/status/1372230955973410816 …
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I don't have a strong opinion on where they go—there are many choices, but yes, whatever is going on in EU is an issue. However, as you can see below, Canada—facing a potential B117 surge in many locations—has approved them, would use them, and needs them.https://twitter.com/chadcrichton/status/1372239202293780480 …
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Folks, we have ~60 million doses *sitting* in our warehouses in Ohio and Baltimore for vaccines that aren't approved here, whose US trials haven't concluded, that will not be approved till too late. They are approved in Canada and her mom needs one now.https://twitter.com/tanjamaier17/status/1372243923209441283 …
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I know, it's hard to mentally adjust: last few months have been dominated by the dire, ongoing shortages. It's hard to believe. But the math is clear: we will have more the enough vaccines for anyone who wants one here in the US sooner than AZ would be approved here in the US.
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I get this, and there is certainly a problem with whatever European countries think they are doing (I can't make sense of it) and the way AstraZeneca was rolled out was suboptimal. But that's a different problem—not a reason to let vaccines go to waste.https://twitter.com/cschneider8224/status/1372245248374579201 …
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Yes, there are multiple ways to ship those doses gathering dust out now, even with some guarantees for replacement (we won't need! we really will not need!) for if and when they are finally approved here and there is some (I can't imagine how) urgent need.https://twitter.com/ariehkovler/status/1372254589332946944 …
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Another option. Just give it to Covax—the global initiative to vaccinate the world—and let them handle the rest. We don't have to figure out all the optics; we just have to commit to immediately letting go of doses we can't use that can do good elsewhere.https://twitter.com/NavinPokala/status/1372279931770667017 …
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Not so burdensome, but it'd be awesome if the "how dare you propose to dump an inferior vaccine elsewhere" people could directly duke it out with the "yes we have enough and those aren't approved but what if we ever need those great vaccines here?" folk.
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The number of people who claim it's bad to call for releasing vaccines approved by large number of countries around the world and have been administered *checks notes* mostly to people in UK, Canada & Europe is amazing.https://twitter.com/DannyAlberta77/status/1372567922497908739 …
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Yes, folks, we're all aware some European countries have paused for a day to investigate reports of clots and AZ vaccine. If they find anything negative, of course the vaccine will be suspended everywhere. Otherwise, it will continue being administered in Europe, UK and Canada.
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And two great updates! European Medical Agency's Safety Committee studying AZ clotting reports says they "found no evidence of a quality or a batch issue”, says to continue vaccination. And US starts to release our stockpiles (that we will not get to use!)https://twitter.com/jeffmason1/status/1372576853341442051 …
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Thrilled to hear that US is releasing (can't otherwise be used) vaccines to Canada & Mexico. We must do *everything* we need to do to increase the supply. Nobody, anywhere, should have to wait until 2022 to be offered a safe and effective vaccine against COVID-19. We can do this.
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Release them! Yeay! There is more AZ in a Baltimore facility, too, I believe, and we should produce as many vaccines as we possibly can including other ones (J&J is using Merck facilities to produce more here!). Everyone who wants a vaccine should get one in 2021. It’s possible.https://twitter.com/noahweiland/status/1372643037403357194 …
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So happy that my piece is already slightly outdated! (Doses—that we cannot use here—already being released to Canada and Mexico. More should go. Plus, later in the year, we’ll have more of an excess when we get even more supply!)https://twitter.com/NYTHealth/status/1372752903115472898 …
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Two more articles,
@ryanlcooper in The Week and@dandrezner in Washington Post. Both argue that it helps US "soft-power" to help vaccinate the rest of the world. If that moves the gears, let that move the gears, too.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/03/18/most-important-foreign-policy-decision-2021/ … and https://theweek.com/articles/972786/biden-wants-make-america-global-leader-again-start-vaccines ….pic.twitter.com/RrdaXhAOz4
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End of conversation
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