A lot of their problems seem to come down to the fact that they aren't experienced in vaccines so have made multiple missteps along the way because of that on the procedural side of things.

Their choice as partner for the Oxford vaccine was purely political. Merck were originally the preferred choice (and they have a lot of vaccine experience) and a deal was almost done, but the UK vetoed it because all production would be in the US and they wouldn't offer the guarantees the UK had gotten from Oxford as part of their funding of the Vaccine development.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jan/29/we-had-to-go...