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Poland to donate 400,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to Taiwan (reuters.com)

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[–]genasugelan 1065 points1066 points  (247 children)

I'm pretty sure they donate them because people don't want to get vaccinated anymore. Same happened in Romania. Still, much better to donate than let them spoil.

[–][deleted] 548 points549 points  (219 children)

Pretty much every first world country has been giving their AstraZeneca away as people are refusing to take it.

[–]Bubba_Junior 80 points81 points  (137 children)

What’s the deal with AstraZeneca ?

[–]ItchyTriggaFingaNigg 310 points311 points  (95 children)

I don't know why people are talking about the side effects, these tend to be varied (I got fucked up by my second dose of Pfizer)...

Many countries halted administering of AZ due to some recipients dying of blood clots.

It was looked into a bit further and turns out there's about a 1 in 2m chance of getting one. This is much better odds than living through COVID, and not that different from any normal vaccine so they contained rolling it out.

However now they can't unring that bell. People are scared of AZ despite the seriously low chance of a blood clot and don't it if there's another choice.

[–]i_know_cat_fu 41 points42 points  (2 children)

In Canada there was a lot of uncertainty about the blood clot chances, but it settled at 1/60,000 before the the government pulled it.

[–]HYPERCONFIDENCE 23 points24 points  (1 child)

In Oz we were told chances of AZ clot were 3:100,000 and if you got a clot, chances of death from this clot was 3:100 So about 9:10,000,000 chance of death clot. Or 0.9 in a million

[–]sooty_foot 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My doctor said to wear a clean pair of undies on my way to my AZ shot as I'll be more likely to get hit by a bus than get a blood clot.

[–]Living-Complex-1368 90 points91 points  (44 children)

When discussing this it is always worth mentioning that you are 20 times as likely to get the exact same problem if you get covid while unvaccinated as you are from the vaccine. So unless you are sure you won't get it you are safer with the vaccine.

[–]singledadartist 97 points98 points  (30 children)

There are three different COVID vaccines to choose from. Refusing the one that causes blood clots doesn't mean refusing to be vaccinated. I had a stroke 8 years ago; I chose not to get the AZ vaccine because I am at high risk for clots.

[–]Spleens88 27 points28 points  (14 children)

THIS. I wish my country had Pfizer available earlier.

[–]andycoates 6 points7 points  (6 children)

Pfizer is at increased risk of heart inflammation though, i think Moderna is also

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (3 children)

Pfizer will at least make you feel like dying.

Source: got two Moderna shots.

[–]amiga1 2 points3 points  (2 children)

I had pfizer. Didn't have any side effects.

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    [–][deleted]  (6 children)

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      [–]Jaxster1969 1 point2 points  (4 children)

      Isn't that the truth. Weird how Pfizer is going to be the only one standing soon. 20billion profit and rising lol.

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        [–]Nom_de_Guerre_23 24 points25 points  (0 children)

        Vaccine-induced clots do not have to do anything with regular strokes or embolic events and there is no increased risk from previous events. I happily vaccinated people with multiple strokes or pulmonary embolies.

        Vaccine-induced clots work similiar to heparin-induced ones. No physician would hold back heparin for patients with previous clots.

        [–]lauradarr 9 points10 points  (7 children)

        Agreed. I have autoimmune issues. Had an autoimmune adverse reaction to first Pfizer. Doc told me to do J&J for booster. Nope! I went with Pfizer again. Sure, it messed me up, but it didn’t kill me! Chose the devil I knew.

        That said, if I was 50 or older or had no choice over vaccine type, yup I’m taking whatever you got.

        Also, it’s the type of blood clot that it causes that is scary. It’s a brain clot that isn’t very survivable. Other kinds of clots can be treated relatively easily. Not the one they saw in young women who took AZ; very often fatal. There’s a reason many Euro countries stopped offering it to people under 40/50. Risk does not outweigh reward if there is a safer option. If you’re older it’s worth the risk.

        Edit to add: A medical intervention (especially prophylactic) has a higher burden of safety than the disease it’s preventing. Also, clot risks are if you test positive for COVID - so the actual risk to any random young and healthy person is much lower than the risk for someone who tests positive. Also, those clots risks are much higher for older people with COVID who have comorbidities.

        Not trying to downplay COVID. Shit sucks. But this is a super nuanced situation and doesn’t boil down to a simple calculation of COVID clot risks.

        [–]EmilyU1F984 7 points8 points  (6 children)

        The blood clots (the ones related to heparin induced ones) are just as likely for the mRNA vaccines btw. It was just reported first in the vector vaccines heavily biasing people against them.

        Not offering for younger people just made no sense at all, as the data was already out there for the other vaccines.

        Not to mention the blood clot is directly related to the virus itself anyway. So it's pretty likely that any vaccine will cause the problem in some rare people. As the antibody epitope is similar enough to the ones on anti clotting factors that some amount of crossreactivity occurs.

        [–]lauradarr 2 points3 points  (0 children)

        Also, thanks for illuminating this more. It’s helpful.

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          [–]beefyesquire 1 point2 points  (1 child)

          You are well within the exception to the standard population. Your choice is FAR from the main reason ppl should avoid this type of vaccine.

          [–]feeltheslipstream 5 points6 points  (3 children)

          https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.marketwatch.com/amp/story/blood-clots-as-prevalent-with-pfizer-and-moderna-vaccine-as-with-astrazenecas-report-2021-04-15

          You choose not to get the AZ vaccine because you've been deliberately misled for profit.

          [–]ShinkoMinori 1 point2 points  (1 child)

          I just dont want to get the weakened strain that has less protection. I rather get synthetic one.

          [–]feeltheslipstream 2 points3 points  (0 children)

          Fair enough if you have a choice.

          Terrible idea to hold out if you don't.

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            [–]dtechnology 2 points3 points  (4 children)

            For those interested, it seems that this blood cloths is a rare antibody variant made when encountering the Covid antigen.

            So you have this (incredibly small) risk for the real Covid virus and all vaccines because it's your own immune system fucking up.

            [–]nein-german-spies 1 point2 points  (3 children)

            That's interesting. Any source on that?

            [–]dtechnology 2 points3 points  (2 children)

            Here's an article on it

            [–]nein-german-spies 1 point2 points  (1 child)

            Thank you, much appreciated!

            Just a note: the study seems to refer only to Covid related blood clots, not necessarily vaccine ones. I'm not familiar enough with the topic to know whether you can extrapolate.

            [–]dtechnology 2 points3 points  (0 children)

            I couldn't find a good resource directly summarizing it, but if you look at articles on AZ it's the same mechanism.

            It mainly looks like a rare response to the real virus and Adenovirus vaccines (which would include AZ, Sinovac, Sputnik), and even rarer for MRNA (Moderna, Pfizer). Reliable data on Sinovac and Sputnik is hard to come by though so you'll mainly find it for real virus and AZ.

            [–][deleted]  (3 children)

            [deleted]

              [–]florinandrei 1 point2 points  (0 children)

              The chance of clots on Covid is also not 100%.

              That was actually in the premise, genius.

              [–]Harlequin80 1 point2 points  (0 children)

              Here in Australia we have a shortage of Pfizer, but heaps of AZ. Because Covid is not in the community for most states most people who are hesitant about AZ side effects just say they will wait for Pfizer.

              [–]psychicsword 1 point2 points  (0 children)

              20 times as likely to get the exact same problem if you get covid

              That isn't the only other option for people in most western countries anymore.

              Someone could get Pfizer, J&J, or another option.

              [–]Peaceteatime 1 point2 points  (0 children)

              Or if they’ve already had it.

              [–]whatisthishownow 1 point2 points  (0 children)

              The question being discussed is "What’s the deal with AstraZeneca ?" not "What's the deal with COVID vaccines?". When discussing a thing it's always worth discussing the thing.

              Poland sold quite a lot more ""surplus"" Pfizer vaccines but had to pay the freight to get rid of their ""suprlus"" AZ. There's a reason for that.

              [–]TMBTs 10 points11 points  (1 child)

              Yes same pfized did me in. I was asleep weak for 3 days (I have other conditions too) but still beats a plastic tube in throat.

              [–]Gosexual 1 point2 points  (0 children)

              Of course the one thing I finally found to be allergic to happened to be the Pfizer vaccine lol. Still took the 2nd dose and had to go through a month of hives, not even sure how it's possible but at least it ain't Covid.

              [–]0235 24 points25 points  (5 children)

              The UK had a very early rollout of the AZ one. I know a lot of people got I'll for a few days to almost a week, but nothing bad. The only thing screwing up the UK right now is early lifting or reatrictions

              [–]ItchyTriggaFingaNigg 5 points6 points  (0 children)

              Yeah, having a fixed date rather than something tied to a relevant stat seems wrong.

              [–]andycoates 1 point2 points  (0 children)

              I had a friend got ill for a couple days after, i had a kild headache the evening after so it wasn't too bad

              [–]NigButs1 0 points1 point  (1 child)

              Few days to a week is a bit crazy to me. My experience is mostly Pfizer/moderna vax and the 2nd dose hasn't lasted longer than 24 hours in everyone I've discussed it with. The 2nd dose had me down for about 12 hours personally.

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                [–]clown-penisdotfart 7 points8 points  (10 children)

                Governments in Europe so badly fucked up the blood clot thing. Reactionary conclusion-jumping with far too accusatory a public stance before any thinking or analysis. German government especially drove pretty much everyone away from it. We see the results ongoing in the antivaxxers here.

                [–]ItchyTriggaFingaNigg 7 points8 points  (4 children)

                Same here in Australia.

                [–][deleted] 5 points6 points  (3 children)

                In Qld and much of Australia, the risk of blood clotting was more dangerous then the risk of covid (pre-Delta). That's changed now due to the emergence of the delta variant, but our situation was completely different to Europeans refusing the AZ vaccine, because covid was rampant there even before Delta.

                [–]monkey6191 1 point2 points  (1 child)

                That was assuming we wouldn't have another outbreak and would stay covid zero until the end of our vaccine rollout, it was a massive risk that was unlikely to every pay off.

                [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                Before Delta we were relatively covid free. Apart from Victoria's outbreak and the northern beaches outbreak, the rest of the country had no major outbreaks for over a year. When we did, we had a 3 day lock down and that was usually it (apart from NSW's approach). It makes sense to think that a delay of a few months was perfectly reasonable. But then of course Delta has thrown that out the window. It's just bad luck that a variant this contagious has emerged.

                [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                To be fair: some countries experienced a lot higher risk of clotting from the vector vaccines than others, with an excessive risk to young women in particular.

                These were mainly countries with excellent health systems, capable of actually picking up the small number of cases and relate them to the vaccine. This was also where that part of the population where the benefit outweighed the risk, had already been vaccinated.

                It’s assumed that less developed systems (like eg. the American one) would have a huge amount of underreported cases. There, people just die at home instead of being treated and registered. (Yay, freedom!)

                I still would have taken the AZ vaccine myself, even volunteered, but weren’t allowed. In the end, it probably was a good call by the health authorities though - stopping a “risky” vaccine today might strengthen faith in vaccines on the long term.

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                  [–]AdohamHicoln 16 points17 points  (5 children)

                  Objectively, it's a worse vaccine than the mRNA ones. Higher chance of death, long period between doses, and less effectiveness (though this is debatable). The risk of getting blood clots is higher than you have mentioned. If you had the option of picking between AZ or Pfizer, you would 100% go with Pfizer. It's unfortunate most of the world doesn't get that choice.

                  [–]TotenSieWisp 2 points3 points  (1 child)

                  It also has anecdotally more severe side effects compares to Pfizer and Sinovac.

                  From my office pool size.

                  [–]erdogranola 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                  It's also much lower cost and easier to transport (making it cheaper still)

                  a vaccine can only be good if it's affordable + logistically possible

                  [–]HYPERCONFIDENCE 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                  Having had 2x AZ, looking forward to a Pfizer booster once allowed. Much wider coverage. Think Canada already mixing it up?

                  Then hopefully bulletproof for a while.

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                    [–]Sptmbr2021 4 points5 points  (0 children)

                    Better odds than living through Covid but multiply the chance of getting Covid at the first place by the chance of dying from Covid once you got it and then compare that to the chance of getting side effects by the vaccine. That’s why people don’t want the vaccine to be mandatory. First cause they are selfish bastards haha 😆 but second cause that would mean that for some people that live in remote areas and are unlikely to catch Covid in the first place the odds get worse. Or at least that’s what many Romanians are saying. 🤷‍♂️

                    [–]Islandkid679 2 points3 points  (1 child)

                    Yep it sucks because it really is a good vaccine, one of the cheapest and easiest to store and transport. It just picked up a bad rep from those first few months. Had my 2nd shot last Friday and feel good already.

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                      [–]RESEV5 29 points30 points  (25 children)

                      The first dose hits like a truck, everyone i've met had quite a lot of pain in the first 24 hours

                      [–]andywang02021 28 points29 points  (7 children)

                      Can confirm first dose hits like a mothertrucker. Fever up to 38.4, sore like shit for a whole day. Called in to work, took acetaminophen and fragged some heads in Titanfall. All’s well the next day.

                      Second dose though, tis but a scratch. Not even hurting.

                      [–]xMilesManx 11 points12 points  (4 children)

                      Same with Pfizer. I thinks it varies from person to person

                      I was wrecked for an entire day after the first dose of Pfizer and the second had me out of work for 4.

                      My wife was completely fine though. Go figure.

                      [–]alreadypiecrust 11 points12 points  (1 child)

                      I got moderna. Their second dose fucked me up real good for a day.

                      [–]SoybeanDestroyer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                      Same, got a super bad fever after 9 hours but it only stayed for half a day lol

                      [–]kjvw 7 points8 points  (0 children)

                      i has two doses of pfizer and the first gave me a little sore arm and the second did nothing

                      [–]The4th88 7 points8 points  (0 children)

                      Pfizer 1 for me: Tired and run down 12 hours later. Passed by next day.

                      Pfizer 2 for me: Almost unnoticable, vague tiredness 4 hours post shot that passed quickly.

                      Pfizer 1 for my gf: Tired, run down 12 hours after, back to normal within 24.

                      Pfizer 2 for my gf: Fever, sweats, chills, joint pain, headache. In bed for 2 days.

                      Shits weird.

                      [–]gonfr 5 points6 points  (0 children)

                      I got fever for 24hrs and my arm hurts for like two weeks. Lmao.

                      [–]gblandro 6 points7 points  (1 child)

                      All my family only got a light cold, not a big deal

                      [–]RESEV5 6 points7 points  (0 children)

                      Yeah, it's a lot better than getting hospitalized for sure

                      [–]dozzer85 4 points5 points  (1 child)

                      My entire family had 2x AZ and were completely fine after both.

                      [–]corruptedcircle 2 points3 points  (4 children)

                      They say the older you are the harder AZ hits, I wonder if my immune system is already "old" cause I got a light chill at night, wrapped myself harder in my blankets and fell back asleep, and woke up feeling completely fine. :|

                      [–]andywang02021 9 points10 points  (0 children)

                      Funny I heard the opposite. The older guys and gals in my family had it easy when they got theirs. Soreness seems to be the most common symptom.

                      I’m in my late 20s. When I asked some of my friends of similar age who got AZ they too said they felt like getting the shit whooped out for a day.

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                          [–]The4th88 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                          Small chance of blood clotting complications. Less risky the older the vaccine recipient though.

                          However, news media has taken that risk and played it to death to the point that people are unwilling to take the shot, despite what actual health professionals are saying.

                          [–]oakteaphone 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                          In Canada, we were using AZ as well until we got a steady supply of Moderna and Pfizer.

                          [–]The_Faceless_Men 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                          It's also easier to manufacture, using mature technology over other vaccines.

                          So more countries have more doses and ability to manufacture more, faster than MRNA vaccines.

                          [–]HrabiaVulpes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                          Worse PR and media cover up than other vaccines.

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                            [–]creggieb 131 points132 points  (0 children)

                            Just like superbowl jerseys from the losing team

                            [–]BLAZENIOSZ 4 points5 points  (0 children)

                            Isn't Taiwan doing better than Poland though?

                            [–]HYPERCONFIDENCE 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                            Almost all of my friends have had AZ. Nobody I know has had any problems at all. The Shock Media needs a kick in the arse for this. Do they ban cars or motorcycles? Guess what is much, much, much more likely to kill you?

                            [–]guitarhamster 11 points12 points  (8 children)

                            Even in taiwan people dont want astrazenca.

                            [–]chacaranda 57 points58 points  (6 children)

                            Taiwan is very much the first world. They didn’t get a lot of vaccine access early on but their GDP per capita is higher than much of Europe.

                            [–]typeronin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                            Taiwan basically has a monopoly on the most advanced computing manufacturing processes in the world. Years ahead of China, Korea and the US.

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                              [–]andywang02021 5 points6 points  (0 children)

                              They moved on to not wanting Medigen though (in-house developed subunit vaccine) due to claims that the vaccine did not undergo proper Phase II and III trials before acquiring EUA, thus the efficacy of the vaccine is under heavy scrutiny by the media.

                              AZs are selling like hot cakes now.

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                                [–]cytarielo 41 points42 points  (3 children)

                                Yeah, I live in Poland. Only around 50% of population is vaccinated. And it is not even a problem with astra zeneca. I was vaccinated back in may and was able to choose whichever vaccine I wanted.

                                [–]genasugelan 5 points6 points  (1 child)

                                Slovakia here, we are only at 43%, sadly. We have to do better than that, I don't want to graduate online again.

                                [–]darth_vladius 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                                Bulgaria here. 20% vaccinated. Strong antivax rethoric, too, including from politicians. No pro vaccination campaign, either (it's very easy to get vaccinated if a person wants it, there are more than enough vaccines available. People just don't want to because of misleading information).

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                                  [–]rupdawg 18 points19 points  (15 children)

                                  Most likely Poland also sold 1 million doses of Pfizer to Australia

                                  [–]Aggressive-W 11 points12 points  (14 children)

                                  How come they donate some but sell others? Taiwan isn’t exactly a poor country. I think they may even be richer than Poland?

                                  [–]tiritto 26 points27 points  (7 children)

                                  I'm honestly surprised nobody have mentioned it before, but when the 1st wave of covid arrived in Poland, Taiwan gave us 1 million protective masks, 5000 protective suits and 20000 surgical gowns. We just wanted to return the favor.

                                  [–]Aggressive-W 3 points4 points  (6 children)

                                  Awesome but I am curious where the Poland/Taiwan alliance came from? They are basically two small countries on opposite ends of the world.

                                  [–]tiritto 10 points11 points  (0 children)

                                  Honestly? I have no idea. It feels like many things have overlapped out of nowhere. First we made cooperation agreement on criminal matters signed between Taiwan and Poland (June 2019) and shortly after covid started. Then Taiwan supported us with their equipment. And with the beginning of this year, the aforementioned agreement has been officially approved, making Poland the first country in Europe to have signed a criminal justice cooperation agreement with Taiwan.

                                  While we don't officially recognize Taiwan as an independent nation, this sort of agreement isn't exactly something you would sign with some random region or city, so I hope it's a clear nod towards recognition of indepedent Taiwan.

                                  [–]yourpseudonymsucks 9 points10 points  (0 children)

                                  Poland has had quite a few negative experiences with large dominating neighbours.
                                  The Polish people sympathise with the Taiwanese people.

                                  [–]StShadow 4 points5 points  (3 children)

                                  Poland is bigger than Italy. It's not a small country.

                                  [–]Bisping 16 points17 points  (4 children)

                                  China has done pretty much everything they can to block Taiwan from getting access to the good vaccines

                                  [–]genasugelan 8 points9 points  (3 children)

                                  Bruh, now I hate the CCP even fucking more. How are you ever gonna claim the moral high-ground when you are restricting a country's access to health?

                                  [–]lizardjoel 4 points5 points  (0 children)

                                  Fair criticism but the US does that to Cuba and Venezuela other countries we embargo.

                                  [–]Bisping 5 points6 points  (0 children)

                                  This is a good read if you have time to read it. Basically goes over what happpened in HK recently.

                                  https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/04/magazine/taiwan-china.html

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                                    [–]Rumunj 4 points5 points  (1 child)

                                    Yeah this is not uplifting if you know the context.

                                    [–]xkenyonx 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                                    That's because people are fucking idiots, Lol

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                                      [–][deleted]  (33 children)

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                                        [–]M00NCREST 215 points216 points  (32 children)

                                        Hopefully Taiwan THE COUNTRY gets all of the doses they need to their SOVERIGN CITIZENS OF THEIR NATION. 🇹🇼🇹🇼🇹🇼

                                        🇨🇳❌ 🇹🇼✅

                                        [–]sintos-compa 106 points107 points  (24 children)

                                        Xi on life support after this terrific burn

                                        [–]TheTrickyThird 28 points29 points  (23 children)

                                        Oh, you mean Pooh Bear? Oh bother

                                        [–]ThunderCr0tch 9 points10 points  (22 children)

                                        i hate the guy as much as everyone else but can we as a collective please come up with literally anything other than “fuck China” or “he looks like Winnie the Pooh”

                                        like i feel like there’s gotta be other ways of talking shit about and criticizing this guy

                                        [–]God_Damnit_Nappa 12 points13 points  (0 children)

                                        Of course not, this site has the collective creativity of a spoiled potato.

                                        [–]TheTrickyThird 2 points3 points  (20 children)

                                        But he hates it! So thats win win!!

                                        [–]sintos-compa 9 points10 points  (4 children)

                                        Pro tip. He doesn’t give a fuck what redditors think

                                        [–]ThunderCr0tch -4 points-3 points  (14 children)

                                        man he does not read these comments lmfao. he is the leader of China i’m sure he’s been called worse and is probably over it by now

                                        [–]TheTrickyThird 6 points7 points  (13 children)

                                        You don't say!? Thanks for the heads up. Im gonna continue railing against Xinnie the Pooh. Thanks bruh

                                        [–]ThunderCr0tch -2 points-1 points  (12 children)

                                        lmao i’m just saying think of a different insult. be more original or creative at least

                                        [–]M00NCREST 1 point2 points  (11 children)

                                        bruh lowkey shilling for CCP

                                        [–]Electric_grenadeZ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                                        FK west taiwan

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                                          [–][deleted]  (42 children)

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                                            [–]krat0s77 30 points31 points  (1 child)

                                            I'm waiting for my second AZ dose. It was either that, Sputnik or Sinopharm here in my country. I think AZ is a good vaccine though, they are all good. But some are not accepted to enter certain countries.

                                            [–]SpeziFischer 13 points14 points  (0 children)

                                            Az ist good. Had it too.

                                            [–]devasabu 27 points28 points  (36 children)

                                            What's wrong with AstraZeneca? I've never heard of it before

                                            [–]foxfirek 57 points58 points  (12 children)

                                            More side effects and lower efficacy. They did trials in the US and one of the podcasters I listen to got it and was fine but it’s not approved here due to the issues.

                                            [–]krat0s77 15 points16 points  (1 child)

                                            It was hell for me for a night with the AZ. Next day I was just fine.

                                            [–]a_ross84 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                                            Same. For the first dose I had it at about 11am and felt awful by about 4. Terrible nights sleep but then I was mostly OK the following morning. Second dose I had no issues at all.

                                            [–]devasabu 26 points27 points  (2 children)

                                            Oh just checked lol it's called a different name in my country and is considered the better of the two major ones we have

                                            [–]stellvia2016 22 points23 points  (2 children)

                                            The trials were done in different regions of the world at different times.

                                            TLDR: Pfizer/Moderna were done in the US on the original virus and before 2nd wave. AZ testing was done in South America/South Africa AFAIK, partially during the 2nd wave and where a different variant was floating around.

                                            It seemed like given the same circumstances, AZ would be about the same as Pfizer/Moderna.

                                            [–]iflew 6 points7 points  (0 children)

                                            Also, there is a lot of politics/economic interests involved in the vaccines... That also affects popularity of certain vaccines on certain countries.

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                                              [–]AlphaWhiskeyHotel 5 points6 points  (2 children)

                                              False. AZ hasn’t been approved in the USA because they didn’t complete a clinical trial in the USA, and as such couldn’t get emergency use authorisation.

                                              They are working through the full approval process.

                                              AZ’s efficacy against the Delta variant is similar to Pfizer’s. It’s like 1% difference. There’s heaps of literature on the subject.

                                              [–]OrigamiMax 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                                              Where are you getting your efficacy data from?

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                                                  [–]sunflowerastronaut 141 points142 points  (25 children)

                                                  Poland gets bullied by Russia and Taiwan gets bullied by China makes sense that they would become unlikely partners

                                                  [–][deleted] 41 points42 points  (7 children)

                                                  Is it unlikely if it makes sense?

                                                  [–]sunflowerastronaut 32 points33 points  (6 children)

                                                  I think so. Considering that Poland doesn’t recognize Taiwan as its own country

                                                  [–]driftej20 47 points48 points  (2 children)

                                                  I think a lot of countries won't recognize Taiwan officially or in certain contexts, but it's not what they truly believe; its just appeasing (arguably bending over for) China. For whatever reason, China seems to care more about what other countries say about Taiwan's status/classification/existence publically than any actions taken regarding Taiwan.

                                                  TSMC is reason enough for the entire world economy to have a vested interest in protecting Taiwan, IMO its possibly the most important company in the world right now.

                                                  [–]bohreffect 15 points16 points  (1 child)

                                                  Taiwan is our modern day David and Goliath. I have unending respect for the people standing up for democracy there.

                                                  [–]tiritto 10 points11 points  (0 children)

                                                  It's true. That being said, I dare to claim that right now among all EU nations we're the one that recognizes Taiwan independence from China most. Since the beginning of this year, Poland is the first country in Europe to have signed a criminal justice cooperation agreement with Taiwan.

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                                                    [–]TheRealRacketear 9 points10 points  (6 children)

                                                    I used to ski with an old polish guy. They really have bo patience for bullshit, but love humor.

                                                    [–]Adderallman 8 points9 points  (5 children)

                                                    Oh they’re all the same?

                                                    [–]Aggressive-W 20 points21 points  (2 children)

                                                    Yes. Every single person in Poland is a 40 year old guy named Wojtek who drinks vodka and skies. Even the women.

                                                    [–]the_average_user557 5 points6 points  (0 children)

                                                    Can confirm. Source: my neighbour is Polish, drinks vodka and is called Wojtek.

                                                    [–]Adderallman 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                                                    Sounds like my kinda country

                                                    [–]TheRealRacketear 4 points5 points  (0 children)

                                                    No nation of people are a monolith, I do notice that a lot of people I've met from Poland tend to be this way.

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                                                      [–][deleted]  (3 children)

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                                                        [–]ZekoriAJ 13 points14 points  (0 children)

                                                        Not all of us bully gay people, that's mostly our government and old people, although our government is pretty much only old people, yet still that's because of this bullshit Catholic propaganda that seems to exist only in Poland I think. The one where they force this religion on everyone, where it has the most power in our government and its corrupted as fuck.

                                                        [–]tiritto -1 points0 points  (0 children)

                                                        Honestly? Never seen this happen even once in my life.

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                                                          [–]Individual-Text-1805 0 points1 point  (5 children)

                                                          I would imagine the us will send Taiwan some. The us wants to keep Taiwan a close ally so we have more presence in Asia. With all the enemy's china has made on their coast all them allying with the us they can easily blockade china and cut off their sea access. The us really likes to cozy up to Taiwan.

                                                          [–]dielawn87 -1 points0 points  (4 children)

                                                          Ya the US definitely wants to turn Taiwan into a base of operations to undermine China. It obviously won't work but it's the strategy.

                                                          [–]Individual-Text-1805 1 point2 points  (3 children)

                                                          Yeah I'm fairly certain it will work. I don't see how it wouldn't.

                                                          [–][deleted]  (9 children)

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                                                            [–]Vwgames49 39 points40 points  (0 children)

                                                            Your social credit score has been reduced by 100 points

                                                            [–]VTCruzer 18 points19 points  (0 children)

                                                            You are now legally a criminal according to Chinese law

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                                                              [–]Zlatan4Ever 22 points23 points  (3 children)

                                                              EU is not supporting Taiwan as we should. Polen helps.

                                                              [–]tiritto 6 points7 points  (0 children)

                                                              It's also worth mentioning that since the beginning of this year, Poland is the first country in Europe to have signed a criminal justice cooperation agreement with Taiwan.

                                                              [–]JonatasA 4 points5 points  (0 children)

                                                              A lot of people are allergic to Pollen though. Poor Poles, can't catch a break.

                                                              [–]ThaiJohnnyDepp 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                                                              Truly a grand coalition. I didn't forget Poland.

                                                              [–]DasLebenistScheisse 7 points8 points  (0 children)

                                                              I hope Germany will donate some too

                                                              [–]uhaveshittaste[🍰] 2 points3 points  (1 child)

                                                              Out of the loop but does the country of Taiwan need them I thought they would be number 1 at that sorta thing

                                                              [–][deleted] 9 points10 points  (8 children)

                                                              So everyone in Poland has been fully vaccinated?

                                                              [–]wumbYOLOgies 33 points34 points  (5 children)

                                                              No, it's just they don't want to take AZ and would rather wait for Pfizer, given those shots are becoming more available.

                                                              [–]kempez3 16 points17 points  (4 children)

                                                              I don't know how true that is considering Poland just gave 1m doses of Pfizer to Australia

                                                              [–]wumbYOLOgies 14 points15 points  (3 children)

                                                              Well, a portion of Poles are hesitant to get the vaccine, in addition to a large portion being very rural and just not getting it. They have plenty of Pzifer at this point for their citizens who want it and their giving away the extras so they don't go to waste, based on their projections of how many they'll need.

                                                              Around 50-60% of the population is vaxxed last time I checked.

                                                              [–]kempez3 7 points8 points  (2 children)

                                                              For my own curiosity, are the ones living rural not getting it due to disinterest/not feeling it's necessary or is there a lack of infrastructure to get it to them?

                                                              [–]wumbYOLOgies 4 points5 points  (1 child)

                                                              I think it is more disinterest than lack of infrastructure. For example, rural polish farmers are the poorest demographic in Poland. The government has advocated for large farming subsidies from the EU, which they got. Despite having a lot of money reserved for farming subsidies, and increased efforts to get polish farmers to sign up for them, a very small fraction of them actually sign up for them.

                                                              This is, however, not a great analogy because this was a multi-year effort on behalf of the government to increase the number of people accepting farming subsidies. Also, for many Poles, the thought of accepting subsidies from the government reminds them too much of communism than they'd like.

                                                              I rambled a bit but I'd probably say, in order, it's:

                                                              1. Disinterest/lack of necessity

                                                              2. Distrust of government programs (centralized vaccine rollout)

                                                              3. Lack of infrastructure to get them the vaccine

                                                              On mobile, sorry for shit formatting.

                                                              [–]kempez3 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                                                              That is all fascinating, thank you for taking the time to write it out, especially on your phone.

                                                              [–]cnnrduncan 5 points6 points  (1 child)

                                                              AFAIK only about 50% of their eligible population has been vaccinated, they've got some of the highest rates of vaccine hesitancy in the EU

                                                              [–]FromGreat2Good 13 points14 points  (2 children)

                                                              Countries have been offering AZ and other vaccines for months. The Taiwan president has refused other vaccines as she wanted to create a domestic vaccine, which Taiwan has a few weeks back. However, many have died due to waiting forever for this vaccine…people are supremely pissed.

                                                              [–]feeltheslipstream -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

                                                              Taiwan has had ample opportunities to get vaccines and turned them all down to favour their own.

                                                              Donations to them are a waste of resources that should be spent elsewhere.

                                                              It's not that they didn't want to buy vaccines through China. They didn't want to buy vaccines period.

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                                                                [–]bigfeetdude 3 points4 points  (0 children)

                                                                Thank you Poland!

                                                                [–]th30be 3 points4 points  (2 children)

                                                                Is it just me or does Taiwan get a lot of fucking vaccines? I feel like I read a story every week.

                                                                [–]canal_boys 9 points10 points  (0 children)

                                                                They make most of the worlds chips.

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                                                                  [–][deleted]  (6 children)

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                                                                    [–]wsxedcrf 6 points7 points  (5 children)

                                                                    well, their new found case is a few per day. It's not alarming.

                                                                    [–]dontpet 1 point2 points  (4 children)

                                                                    I see. They went in heavy on public health measures.

                                                                    [–]corruptedcircle 2 points3 points  (3 children)

                                                                    Mostly all-in on heavy contact tracking, which would never fly in western countries. Cell phone locations being tracked, all public areas requiring logging to enter, etc. Trade in privacy for dine-in and entertainment venues being tentatively open.

                                                                    [–]cnnrduncan 1 point2 points  (1 child)

                                                                    NZ is a western country with contact tracing that's almost as heavy.

                                                                    [–]corruptedcircle 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                                                                    Hmm, true. Guess you really gotta judge country by country for their culture instead of lumping countries together by ethnicity.

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                                                                      [–]zeebow77 4 points5 points  (0 children)

                                                                      Poland: wow these AstraZeneca vaccines aren't great, it seems like some countries don't even recognize them anymore and our population would prefer Pfizer/Moderna. I bet Taiwan would love these

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                                                                        [–]Islandkid679 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                                                                        They've all got potential side effects. You could call Moderna the "heart problem" one.

                                                                        [–]Scarrazaar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                                                                        Nobody wants their astra zanica

                                                                        [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                                                                        AstraZeneca is shit. My sister got it and she's still having side effects. I'm not antivac or anything (everyone in my family is vaccinated (Pfizer)) but that astra one is pretty weird.

                                                                        [–]Walrand 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                                                                        West Taiwan won't be happy about this

                                                                        [–]neutralityparty -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

                                                                        Because nobody wants it. Either Pfizer or moderna

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