Chris

I'm not sure that's all that different. First of all the source for Novavax's reasoning is an EU official, so at best that official can only be recounting what Novavax wants them to know. Letting the other side know things unofficially is a perfectly valid negotiating tactic, and besides, they're hardly going to tell them 'between you and me, we don't trust you not to go Tonto on us if you later find us supplying other customers who bought their product before you did.'

GSK is bottling 60 million doses of the Novavax product, and according to an ITV report in January, the UK government has already bought the lot.

https://www.itv.com/news/2021-01-29/...the-uk-ordered

Can you imagine what would happen if Novavax signed a 'best effort' deal with the EU tomorrow, then found it was having issues setting up production within the EU and had to tell them it would take longer than hoped to fulfil the order? Based on the very public spectacle of the EU scapegoating AstraZeneca for its own failings, Novavax would be in for the same carpeting, and the UK government would start copping flak as well. I wouldn't be remotely surprised if the UK government has - informally - reminded Novavax executives of the EU's behaviour, and encouraged them to ensure there's clear blue water between any deals they've already signed, and anything the EU is asking for, before signing on the dotted line.