The start of 2021 in Europe was meant to be about jabs aimed at arms. Instead, it is fingers that are being pointed, and threats brandished. Delays to covid-19 vaccine deliveries in eu countries threaten to slow the group’s already-lethargic inoculation plans. News of production snafus has sent tempers flaring as politicians, Eurocrats and drug firms try to apportion the blame. Calls for vaccine protectionism to fix the problem—for Europe—could stop other countries securing shots.
The eu’s vaccination campaign is already among the most sluggish in the rich world: only two doses have been administered for every 100 Europeans, compared with seven in America and eleven in Britain. Things seemed to be improving, albeit slowly, as national governments stepped up efforts to distribute and administer jabs (see article). Then AstraZeneca on January 22nd discreetly advised the European Commission in Brussels that its factories in Europe were facing difficulties in producing sufficient quantities of the jab it had developed alongside the University of Oxford. That came on top of Pfizer-BioNTech, another vaccine-maker, also pushing back promised deliveries by a few weeks.
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