In anticipation of the AZ contract publication, a quick walk through of the vaccine contract we do have (which may be different, though I doubt it) and why the Commission's argument is disgraceful

The relevant obligations of the contractor (AZ) are in 1.3 and 1.71.

Those obligations are in three stages.

/2
First two

They must make reasonable best efforts

1. to obtain EU athorisation

2. to manufacture once authorisation granted

/3
Once those are satisfied THEN the contractor must deliver according to the estimated schedule (which may be adjusted for delay).

/4
The Commission's argument is that once the authorise (today!) the first two stages are satisfied. And the strict duty to deliver kicks in.

(see @vonderleyen interview in German here

https://t.co/i3Z7nQuLnE )

/5
But the reason why AZ has manufacturing capacity in advance of this long delayed authoristion by the Commission, is that the UK bought and approved months ago the same drug, so it has stock manufactured under that contract for the UK.

/6
If the UK contract didn't exist, there would be no stock.

A Soriot explained in his interview, the UK bught much earlier and stipulated that vaccine manufactured at UK plants go to the UK.

/7

https://t.co/REP32HbZIc
The "reasonable efforts" duty is expressly subject to contractual obligations to other parties.

This is how these kind of contracts work.

/8
It isn't "first come first served" but rather "once you give approval, you don't get the benefit of manufacturing ramp up we did under other contracts for other buyers."

/9
Bluntly, according to the information currently in the public domain, I think the Commission's behaviour is a disgrace. There is a failed procurement scandal here, and they're trying to deflect from their own failure.

/10
Disclosure: I am a contract lawyer. I am not a small minded Farage-ist Brexiteer. I wish we'd never left the EU.

Qualification: we haven't seen the AZ contract yet. We don't know what was said in negotiations.

/11

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Over 3 years I had put out 1,200+ hours of content - posting every week without


Little did I know that something I started almost 4 years back would give my life an entirely new direction.

At the end of 2019, my biggest platform was LinkedIn with ~700K followers.

In Jan 2020, I decided to build a team that would help me with the content.

I ran a month long recruitment drive to hire a team of interns.

It comprised 4 detailed rounds - starting with my loved 20 questions, then an assignment, then a WhatsApp video round and finally F2F.

Through 1,200+ applications, I finally selected 6 profiles, starting March.

I am a firm believer in @peterthiel's one task, one person philosophy
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3. Video editing
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https://t.co/8ICvHxE9QL is easy & fun to follow for our smallest of people #EYFS. Early childhood is the perfect stage to introduce the core concepts of what it means to be a global citizen. For our reception & KS1 children please take a look at this fabulous free resource

https://t.co/tZx8UIS58Q Storytelling is a powerful communications tool and helps children remember lessons and virtues that they will use in everyday life. The idea is to simplify the lessons of the (SDGs) so young children can relate to – and better understand – the SDGs.

For older children here’s a board game that aims to help teach children around the world about the Sustainable Development Goals in a simple and child-friendly way

This is a lovely free book for children to enjoy flicking through themselves https://t.co/ScMbQCfpjl Elyx, the United Nations’ digital ambassador, uses various expressions and actions to help demonstrate the meaning of each Sustainable Development Goal.

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https://t.co/TumQiX2tlj 3/

https://t.co/uAORIJ5BYX 4/

https://t.co/yOGZ0pLfHG 5/