I think this one Google translates well.
tl;dl people noticed Germany gets proportionally more vaccines. Germany claimed it’s dosages from countries that refused to receive theirs (which, fair, no reason to throw them away), but apparently Germany made a contract on its own, which EU doesn’t allow, supposedly.
I’ve seen the story in major news outlets, but that doesn’t necessarily make it accurately reported.
About Palestine
Note: this is not where I first read about it, but I think it’s as good a source.
Wow, that does sound valid. I haven’t read about that so far, but I haven’t followed all the news as well, so maybe there was something in the German media and I didn’t read it.
Who has, to be fair… This 2020 DLC of a month isn’t even over yet and we’re knee-deep in breaking news.
True… And I’ve been especially annoyed by reading about these complaints about not having enough vaccinations soon enough in Germany. 
(I mean, the discussion richyfourtwo mentioned above.)
The general situation here is that measures regarding the personal life are very strict, but there are only very loose restrictions for companies. (Except of course for restaurants, cinemas, most shops etc - they have been closed for weeks.) Compared to last spring, only half as many Germans are working from home now. Offices can still hold big meetings if they want, they don’t have to make sure the room is well ventilated, and as long as people sit at least 1.5m apart from each other, they don’t even have to wear masks. 
Ah, and I almost forgot to mention that while other measures are strict, and fines for violations theoretically exist, it’s of course not possible to control everything and everyone, and typically only extreme violations are punished. Like… close to where I live, 170 people (!!!) gathered in a church last weekend. And 60 celebrated a wedding.
There are apparently still too many people who just don’t get it, and all of us are paying the price.
Today shops opened again, and people queued outside for hours, like they were supposed to get money in the shop, not give it.
I understand work and socializing, to an extent, but for the life of me I can’t understand why someone would stand 2 hours in -3 °C to buy new pants.
I second this as well. But it seems that our union has the stance that if you’re outside of the EU, tough luck then.
(just to have a non-German voice as well 
On the other hand, I’m not sure how believable the Dutch are…)
Whatever the case might be, I do not think that anyone around here should be trying the good old “let’s toss OUR failure to the currently unpopular Germans once again” trick.
Let us entertain the thought that there are irregularities in the distribution of the vaccine among EU countries.
It CAN happen. No argument there.
BUT, that does not change the fact that the official vaccination plan for my region, by our governent, is that 85+ year olds must apply somehow to be vaccinated and then they will have to drive on their own expense 120 kilometers away, to do the vaccine and return home.
“Fun” facts:
a) Most 85 year olds cannot drive and do not even own a car anymore. Even if they do, not even 5% of the local population has been to the city they asked the old people to travel to.
b) Even if you take a TAXI, iirc you cannot have more than two people in there (driver included) else it is a 300 euro fine for each person involved. So, if an old couple want to get vaccinated, they have to take TWO Taxis. The fare costs 150 euro, so for both doses of the vaccine, they’d have to pay 600 euro in order to legally reach the designated hospital. So, for an average pentioner, that amount is more than their monthly pention.
c) There are two roads that might get you to your destination. One of them has had a sign that reads “drive through this road on your own responsibility” (I kid you not) and the other one is through even more mountains and has more potholes per square meter than a Swiss cheese.
And you read the news and you see complaints and innuendos about the EU and Germany and whatever… as if we would have done a better job on our own and somehow the Europeans are causing our “brilliant efforts” to fail 
I am starting to think that my prediction of getting even the ability to declare a position in line to get a vaccine around May 2021, was veeeeery optimistic.
The whole thing reminds me of December 1995 when we couldn’t get a CD-ROM drive here for six months and eventually a friend from Germany that visited his grand-parent’s house for vacation brought us the drive in July of 1996 ahahah. It was faster for a tourist to get us something back then, and this would probably have happened with the vaccines too, had they been easily transferable.
Our government actually can top that 
Listen to this:
In order to go to work in an office/factory you get a permit that is automatically connected to your insurance profile that records how many hours you work in a day. In order for a lot of companies to avoid paying too much insurance, they declare some workers to be working 4hours part-time, but in REALITY they occupy them full time 8+ hours or, something also common, they pay the 8 hour insurance and occupy them for 10-12 hours per day.
Now here is the “amusing” part … when you are a worker and you want to go back home from such a job that miscounts your working hours, you have always run out of time according to your official work permit, so you are illegally out in the streets and subject to 300 euro fines, if found.
The government knows that, so instead of issuing fines to the companies that mis-record their workers, they fine the workers themselves and they collect the money from people that are just trying to go to work and make ends meet.
At least they haven’t tried to pin that despicable practice on some EU regulation … yet 
I’d appreciate it if you didn’t twist my words to state your piece.
Well, unless you are writting collumns in papers or are an elected official of some sort, you are not the one generating the rumors or the gossip you mentioned, so I really do not see what exactly was twisted here. When I wrote “anyone around here” I obviously meant the journalists and the government, not this forum. If it wasn’t clear, I hope that it is now 
Is it not true that for the past ten years it has been a habit for most elected officials here to hide behind “the bad europeans asked for that new rule, don’t look at us” excuse? So, they do it again now, big surprise. Somehow I am at fault for pointing it out?
I ain’t driving my family 120 kilometers through a crumbling and decripit road to get a vaccine, especially during the summer, and that’s how good our “coronovirus vaccination plan” is, regardless of whether we eventually get any vaccines whatsoever. I think I have every reason to worry about that.
What that has to do with anything? Either Germany did what’s mentioned here, or they didn’t. If they did it’s wrong, and we can go from there.
Not everything has to be about us, sometimes news is just news.
I went to DM for gossip, and I came back with this.
"The study has yet to be peer-reviewed and the alarming statistics are based on initial data."
Yes, richer countries are claiming most of the vaccines produced. But it seem that richer countries are also hit harder by the virus than less rich countries. So it is it really that unfair?
And I suppose many governments have a constitutional responsibility to care for their own population.
richer countries have more tests
If a country does little testing to show that they need priority in vaccination, then why should other countries give them large quantities of vaccines that they need badly themselves?
It’s usually not really a choice that a poor country has either a lack of testing, fails to track the number of infected or doesn’t have statistics on number of covid related deaths: it’s a poor country.
There seem to be quite a few poorer countries that collect this data, so I don’t think that argument holds in general:
It was mentionned in many worldwide newspapers that the departing Chancellor of Germany is having agreements on the side, outside EU. Greek media may overdo it with headlines, but it doesn’t make it less true, if other media also report it.
example1
example2
Oh, we’re quick to point out everyone’s misdemeanour, not just Germany’s; especially if it makes us look good while shopping for cheese curlers in the snow
(Also, the fact that UK is now an outcast, puts the EU focus on France and Germany. Greece is too small to kindle that kind of fire, so…)
…
Instead of complaining about vaccine stocks, I think people in countries who got insufficient vaccines should be fighting for fair and proper prioritizing.
Our head officials already got their 2nd shot and I don’t think any of them works in an ICU, puts out fires, hunts murderers, cooks for the homeless, cares for orphans, grows food or works in any other paramount sector. Some of them are also covid-deniers and mask-deniers. Go figure.
This may explain why our news outlets prefer to focus on how Germany “failed” EU.
Well put. It should be self-evident, but it isn’t.
I also think that it depends on the vaccine if poorer countries could even handle it well logistically. The Pfizer vaccine needs to be stored at -70 degrees Celcius and it requires 2 shots (which means you need to track carefully who needs a 2nd shot and when). So this vaccine requires a lot of infrastructure that poor countries don’t have. Sending Pfizer vaccines to poor countries may well end up being a waste of vaccines.
So it makes sense to use this vaccine in rich countries. Other vaccines are a lot easier to handle, so it’s better to send those to countries with a poor infrastructure, even when they will be available later than the Pfizer vaccine.
A mean person (myself) might think that selling the vaccine is all what they care about. Administering it is not a priority. As long as they get the sales income, it’s done business.
