The governments should greatly accelerate the production and supply of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine (which seems to be the best of the 2 from the Public Health Scotland supported research into vaccine performance in Scotland) under license by investing in new facilities, including one here in Scotland to make say +250,000 doses/day for Scots initially then for export.
Please support my call for a new 250,000 doses/day vaccine production facility in Scotland – with further doses to be exported after all Scots have been fully vaccinated.
Then, whenever any new variant virus threatens, Scotland will be well prepared to roll out the booster vaccine very quickly and avoid lockdown!
“as supply allows”
I’ve just fired off another email about this.
Call for a new 250,000 doses/day vaccine production facility in Scotland
I write to complain about the poor quality reply from the Scottish Government’s civil servant Charles Willis, Reference: 202100164087, 28 February 2021 … because it suggests that neither Mr Willis nor anyone else in the Scottish government have yet competently considered the content of my email to you all, ….
“as supply allows” writes Mr Willis, as if the Scottish Government can have no agency whatsoever with a view to increasing its own supply of vaccine doses, as if the vaccine is handed down from on high, courtesy of the UK. “Take what you get. Never question how much or why. Just be grateful.”
How pathetic. How disgusting.
Mr Willis may be a helpless civil servant but it is unacceptable to this proud Scot to suffer the Scottish government to be represented in such a pitiful and beggarly fashion.
Who reading my emails can respond intelligently to my suggestion that the Scottish government should plan to increase its supply of vaccines from its present limited supply, seemingly varying from 10,000 to 60,000 but averaging perhaps 20,000 doses/day?
Who reading this can respond to my suggestion that the Scottish government should invest in a new vaccine production facility in Scotland, in partnership with AstraZeneca, that can produce 250,000 doses/day?
The Scottish government have, so far, vaccinated only 1/4 of the population of Scotland and 3/4 of the population are still waiting, still dying of Covid, some of us, because we’ve not been vaccinated yet when we should have been.
Please support my call for a new 250,000 doses/day vaccine production facility in Scotland – with further doses to be exported after all Scots have been fully vaccinated.
With such a newly built vaccine production facility here in Scotland then whenever any new variant virus threatens, Scotland will be well prepared to roll out the booster vaccine very quickly and avoid lockdown!
Scotland needs a faster supply of vaccine doses. The world needs a faster supply of vaccine doses. Scotland can produce a great supply of vaccine doses if the Scottish government gets its act together and stops being content to be a by-stander while others outside Scotland arrange for a very limited supply of vaccine doses for us on Scotland’s behalf.
Do not dare to stand idly by while others supply us with the vaccines we need. Scotland must become a supplier of vaccine doses, for ourselves, to export for others.
Do not dare to think “we can’t”.
We are Scots.
Yes we can!
That’s got them telt! 😎
Valneva Livingston
28th January 2021. GOV.UK Large-scale coronavirus vaccine manufacturing begins in Scotland
“Speciality vaccine company Valneva has started commercial manufacturing of its promising COVID-19 vaccine candidate in Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland. …
If the vaccine proves successful and receives regulatory approval following a rigorous assessment of available data, the Livingston facility will have the capacity to produce up to 250 million doses annually for shipment across the UK and around the world.”
If approved that would be up to 685,000 doses per day supplied from Valneva Livingston. Shared among the UK population equally that would be 56,000 doses per day for Scots.
56k/day is good, it would be a most welcome supplement to the existing limited vaccine supply stream in Scotland but I must ask if that would that be enough to allow for the fastest possible roll-out of a booster vaccine should the need arise?
It should be possible to vaccinate 250,000 Scots per day and to administer one dose to every Scot in about 3 weeks, ready to offer 2nd doses as required.
So my opinion is that the gold standard supply for Scotland would be met by 250,000 doses/day and that’s why I have called for a new 250,000 doses/day vaccine production facility in Scotland, set up in partnership with AstraZeneca and funded by the Scottish Government so that the entire output could be prioritised for Scots if required.
“Vaccine nationalism?” Well maybe but that soon becomes vaccine internationalism after Scots have been vaccinated because all that additional vaccine production can then be dedicated for export.
By the same argument, the gold standard supply for the whole UK would be 3 million doses/day – 3 times more than the 1 million doses/day that the UK Government seems to have satisfied itself with.
This is not the time to rest on our vaccine laurels.
Vaccine Rollout Performance Standards for Scotland & the UK
Scotland: Vaccinations per day
Gold Standard
Scotland – 246,000/day, UK – 3,000,000/day or more
Silver Standard
Scotland – 164,000/day, UK – 2,000,000/day or more
Bronze Standard
Scotland – 82,000/day, UK – 1,000,000/day or more
D Grade
Scotland – 400,000/week, UK – 700,000/day or more
UPDATE
BBC: Covid: Under-30s offered alternative to AstraZeneca jab
Recent developments require me to review the assumption I made in February, that the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine “seems to be the best of the 2 from the Public Health Scotland supported research into vaccine performance in Scotland”.
It is reasonable to take a fresh look at the other candidate vaccines if investing in a new vaccine production facility here in Scotland.
