Originally Posted by
DHfan
It seems the European declarations regarding the dangers of the AZ vaccine were started by Macron in France who apparently has been reading up on viruses and vaccines and now considers himself a world-leading expert.
As far as I know he's got no scientific background or training but Merkel immediately agreed with him and I believe she is a qualified scientist of some sort.
awful lot of politics involved with Europe’s response. Macron was also hoping the French Pasteur Institute vaccine would be viable. It turned out to be a dud. His attitude towards other vaccines, particularly AstraZeneca changed. Vaccine rollouts in parts of the EU, Germany notably, was also a shambles. Having a nice big distraction in the form of AstraZeneca was very welcome. Remember the seizure of AstraZeneca destined for the UK, then it became the blood clotting vaccine then they wanted it again… The EU response has been disgraceful. Oh and the EU, run by Germany telling all EU countries they had to order vaccines through the EU only, then they (Germany) order millions of doses on the side outside the EU ordering process. And so on and so on…
there is another French vaccine that is undergoing clinical trials now and is meant to be variant proof. So maybe if that looks like succeeding we will see Macron ramping up anti AstraZeneca rhetoric again.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/26/french-self-esteem-hit-after-pasteur-institute-abandons-covid-vaccine
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-07/valneva-covid-vaccine-french-shot-supposedly-variant-proof/100124708