Launch of the ‘slow’ EU covid vaccine; Germany and France tighten restrictions

The European Union has been criticized for the speed with which it distributes Covid vaccines, as its two largest economies extend their restrictions on the coronavirus due to worrying numbers of cases.

Several European officials have expressed concerns about the bloc’s vaccination plans in recent days and have asked the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, to explain why it did not buy more vaccines.

According to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, there have been more than 17 million reported cases of coronavirus in the region (including the United Kingdom) to date.

“It is difficult to explain that a very good vaccine is developed in Germany, but is vaccinated more quickly elsewhere,” said Markus Söder, the leader of the German region of Bavaria, in an interview over the weekend, according to Politico. The German company BioNTech, together with Pfizer, developed one of Covid’s most important vaccines.

The European Union started its vaccination program in late December, after the approval of the Pfizer / BioNTech jab. Despite being developed in Germany, however, the jab received approval in the United Kingdom and the United States long before it received the green light from European authorities.

Uğur Şahin, chief executive of BioNTech, also told the German press over the weekend that “the process in Europe was certainly not as quick and direct as in other countries”.

In the meantime, the United Kingdom has approved two other vaccines, but the European Medicines Agency has yet to comment on offers from AstraZeneca or Moderna.

In addition to concerns about deadlines, there are also doubts about whether enough vaccines have been purchased by the EU.

“The (European) Commission must be up to the task. To that end, how will the EU make up for the lack of files acquired in the Union?” Luis Garicano, a European legislator, wrote in a letter to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen over the weekend.

The European Commission has signed six contracts with vaccine manufacturers on behalf of European countries. Each EU country will receive vaccines at the same time and distribution will be per capita.

Among these contracts, the EU agreed to purchase 200 million doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine with an option to purchase an additional 100 million doses. The Commission also agreed to purchase 300 million doses of vaccines from AstraZeneca, with the option to purchase an additional 100 million. His contract with Moderna provides for the purchase of 80 million doses, in addition to the option to purchase up to 80 million more.

There are more than 447 million citizens living in the 27 EU countries, according to the region’s statistical office.

“Israel, a nation with only 1/50 of the EU’s population, vaccinated more citizens than all EU member states combined. Madam President, how is that possible?” Garicano asked von der Leyen in his letter.

A European Commission spokesman said on Monday that the institution was “very focused on ensuring that the implementation of our strategy is done, is done well”.

“The commission understood very, very early that both the acquisition of vaccines and the vaccination process would be major efforts for the European Union,” the spokesman told reporters virtually.

France, one of the most skeptical nations about vaccination in the EU, announced last week that it was speeding up its vaccination process. The country is also reviewing the curfew in the most affected regions, in an effort to contain the spread of the virus.

Meanwhile, Germany, where a national blockade has been in place since late November, is expected to extend that emergency measure until the end of the month.