AstraZeneca chief Pascal Soriot makes EU politicos and bureaucrats look like bickering kids in vaccine row

All hail Pascal Soriot.

As the EU bickered and bitched about AstraZeneca’s vaccine delays like the vindictive children Brexiteers caricature them as, the company’s CEO last night calmly explained why supplies were really delayed.

In an interview with La Repubblica - the biggest newspaper of Italy, a country now threatening to sue his business - he explained that the reason there were hold-ups in supplies to the EU was simple. It had only placed its orders three months after Britain did.

The UK factories, he said, had also had problems getting going, likewise Australia. But they had largely resolved them over time, as they would in Europe.

And as for the offensive claim that he was prioritising the UK because AZ made more profit here, he politely and patiently pointed out that his company is doing all this on a not-for-profit basis.  

He could have added: unlike pretty much every other drug company.

Rather than succumb to outrage and anger at the slur, Soriot showed grace and understanding. These are very difficult and stressful times. Tempers understandably get frayed, he said.

Hopefully, his critics will now understand the complexities of producing cell cultures in 2000 litre batches all over the world.

They will understand that thousands of brilliant and dedicated scientists are working 24/7 to solve them.

AZ’s vaccine is the cheapest, easiest to transport and most widely distributed in the world, making it affordable and available even in the poorest countries of the world.  

That means it is the planet’s best hope to end this pandemic.