Vaccine Shortages in Europe
- Theresa Chen
- Jan 28, 2021
- 2 min read
By Theresa Chen
The European Union has had a variety of problems ever since it started its vaccine distribution program.
Just this Wednesday, Spain became the first European country to declare that they would start to dwindle the amount of vaccine that was being distributed due to lack of supply. A dispute with AstraZeneca, a drug-maker, also caused tensions in the union as the company announced that they would be drastically decreasing their deliveries due to production shortfalls.
Start Line
Right at the start of their vaccine development, the European Union was already far behind nations such as the United States and Britain. The Union's first approved vaccine, made by Pfizer and BioNTech in December, already arrived weeks behind the vaccines made by the U.S. and Britain. The European Union is already considered fortunate, however, as many countries are left with no access to vaccines at all.
Unrealistic Goal
Near the beginning of the distribution process, the European Commission stated that their goal was to have 70 percent of the population inoculated by the end of the summer. Shortly after making that statement, the president of the council declared that the goal would be difficult. As of this week, only 2 percent of the European Union has received the vaccine, far from the supposed goal of the commission. Compared to the E.U., Israel is faring much better with 40% of its inhabitants vaccinated for the coronavirus.
Critics
Critics have begun assigning blame for the terrible situation as some turn to the European Commission for the mess. At the start of distribution, the commission settled on a deal that would secure over 2.3 billion vaccine doses but this agreement lagged behind those struck by the United States and Britain. The distributor AstraZeneca agree with this reasoning as they claim the delay in the deal slowed down the deliveries.
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