[nomadking]

Originally Posted by Mr K

We didn't order any till today, and then in a last minute panic realising we cocked up. 'Hancocks half hour' again..... Then only 5 million doses which will only treat 2.5 million people and not until spring. The EU got 160 million doses ordered...

Lets hope the Oxford vaccine delivers or we've backed the wrong horse.

IIRC previously the UK had signed up deals with half a dozen companies already. You can't sign up deals with each and every one around the world.
Link

We have secured early access to over 350 million vaccines doses through agreements with several separate vaccine developers at various stages of trials, including:

• 100 million doses of University of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine – phase 3 clinical trials
• 40 million doses of BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine – phase 3 clinical trials
• 60 million doses of Novavax vaccine – phase 3 clinical trials
• 60 million doses of Valneva vaccine – pre-clinical trials
• 60 million doses of GSK/Sanofi Pasteur vaccine – phase 1 clinical trials
• 30 million doses of Janssen vaccine – phase 2 clinical trials

Seven deals in place for early access.

---------- Post added at 20:13 ---------- Previous post was at 20:00 ----------

Originally Posted by Mr K

Just a shame we've made the isolationist choices we've made over the past few years. This is a classic example on why acting together with other countries makes us stronger. On our own we're weaker and vulnerable in the marketplace.

The UK was signing deals before the EU.
Eg
UK in July

NEW YORK & MAINZ, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) and BioNTech SE (Nasdaq: BNTX) today announced an agreement with the United Kingdom to supply 30 million doses of their BNT162 mRNA-based vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2, currently in development, subject to clinical success and regulatory approval. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed, but the terms were based on the timing of delivery and the volume of doses.

EU this month

Last week the Commission reached a deal with Pfizer and BioNTech on the supply of their potential COVID-19 vaccine hours after the companies announced their positive results, EU officials said, adding that the timing was a coincidence.
The formal signing of that contract is expected later this week.

The UK is well ahead of the EU on this.