EU vaccine with a low vaccine ‘slow’; Germany, France tighten restrictions

The European Union has been criticized for the rapid use of Covid vaccines, as its two largest economies are expanding their coronavirus restrictions due to alarming numbers.

A number of European officials have expressed concern over the bloc’s vaccination plans over the past few days and have asked the European Commission, the EU’s executive, to explain why it did not buy more plug pipes.

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

“It is difficult to explain that a very good vaccine is being developed in Germany, but being vaccinated faster elsewhere,” Markus Söder, the leader of the German region of Bavaria, said in an interview with Politico at the weekend. The German company BioNTech has developed together with Pfizer one of the forerunner Covid vaccines.

The European Union began its vaccination program at the end of December after the Pfizer / BioNTech sting was approved. Despite being developed in Germany, however, the jab received approval in the United Kingdom and the United States before being enlightened by European authorities.

Uğur Şahin, CEO of BioNTech, also told the German press over the weekend that “the process in Europe was certainly not as fast and straightforward as in other countries.”

The UK has meanwhile approved two other vaccines, but the European Medicines Agency has not yet ruled on AstraZeneca or Moderna’s offerings.

In addition to concerns about timing, there are also questions about whether the EU has bought enough vaccines.

“The (European) Commission must be given the opportunity. How will the EU compensate for the lack of purchased dossiers 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 the vaccines at the same time and the distribution will take place on a per capita basis.

Under these contracts, the EU agreed to purchase 200 million doses of Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine with the option to purchase 100 million additional doses. The Commission also agreed to buy 300 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, with the option to buy 100 million more. The contract with Moderna agrees to a purchase of 80 million doses, plus an option to buy up to 80 million more.

According to the region’s statistics office, more than 447 million citizens live in the 27 EU countries.

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

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

“The commission realized very, very early on that the procurement of vaccines and the vaccination process would be the biggest efforts for the European Union,” the spokesman told reporters virtually.

France, one of the most vaccine-skeptical countries in the EU, announced last week that it was stepping up its vaccination process. The country is also reviewing evening clocks in the regions worst affected in an effort to curb the spread of the virus.

Meanwhile, Germany, where there has been a national exclusion since the end of November, must extend this emergency measure until the end of the month.