Europe began vaccinating against COVID-19 at the end of December 2021 and planned to “defeat the pandemic” by the summer, when 70% of the population would be vaccinated. “We have purchased more than enough doses for everyone in Europe, and we will be able to help our neighbors and partners around the world,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at the time.
However, within a month it became clear that Europe’s ambitious plans were not destined to come true: manufacturers began to miss delivery deadlines, and a shortage of COVID-19 vaccines arose in the bloc.
Pfizer first reported a reduction in supplies. In December, due to logistics problems, it planned to halve supply volumes by the end of the year, but in mid-January it announced further delays. Another manufacturer that missed the deadline was the British-Swedish AstraZeneca. In January, she said that she would not be able to fulfill the plan to supply 100 million doses of the drug to the European Union in the first quarter of 2021. According to sources in the Financial Times, AstraZeneca will provide the EU with no more than 40 million doses; another source even speaks of a quarter of the previously planned volume. “We all underestimated how difficult it would be for the industry to roll out a comprehensive vaccine mass production program from scratch. I wish I had known about this last fall,” the European Commission President said in February.
So far, the population in the European Union has received only 33 million doses, and only 11 million Europeans have been fully vaccinated (a total of 447 million people live in the EU, of which 287.7 million are aged 15 to 64 years), writes the Associated Press. The EU, for its part, reported in February that 17 million Europeans had been vaccinated and 26 million doses of vaccine that the bloc had received, and also confirmed plans to vaccinate 70% of the adult population by the end of the summer. Ursula von der Leyen later clarified that the “end of summer” means September 21.
"The fire hasn't gone out yet"
Problems with vaccine supplies were not the only headache for European leaders. Since the beginning of February, the region has seen an increase in the number of infections, said Hans Kluge, head of the European branch of the World Health Organization (WHO). He called on EU residents to continue to observe safety measures and called Europe the second region of the world most affected by the pandemic. “The fire has not yet gone out,” Kluge wrote.
European officials are also talking about the deterioration of the situation: at the end of February, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the country is on the verge of a third wave of COVID-19, and the Swedish authorities also say the same. Finland declared a state of emergency on March 1, and a week later introduced a strict quarantine; the Estonian authorities are also planning to introduce a lockdown; in Italy they report an increase in the number of hospitalizations. Slovakia has tightened security measures, France has reported a worsening situation across the country, and authorities in the Spanish region of Galicia have ordered residents to get vaccinated, with a fine ranging from €1,000 to €60,000 for refusing to do so.
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The population's distrust of vaccination has become another difficulty on the way to implementing the European Commission's plan. According to a study by international research company Ipsos, only 40% of French people want to be vaccinated, just over 60% of Spaniards and Italians and 65% of Germans. Even health workers are refusing vaccinations, writes The Wall Street Journal: in France, about half of nursing home employees do not want to be vaccinated, and in Germany, nursing home operator BeneVit reported that about 70% of their employees do not intend to get vaccinated. WSJ experts attribute this to insufficient funding for medicine and decreased trust in authorities and science.
The European Commission is “tired of being a scapegoat”
Against the background of the emerging shortage of vaccines and the worsening situation, the European Union is trying to take centralized measures. As one of them, the EU plans to seek help from the United States and ask Washington to allow AstraZeneca to export several million doses of the drug from the company’s American factories to EU countries, FT sources report.
In addition, after statements about delays in vaccine deliveries, the European Commission obliged developers to obtain permission to export the drug outside the bloc from the government of the country where production is located. The Italian authorities were the first to use this right in early March: they banned the export of 250,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Australia due to a shortage of the drug. The European Commission did not object to this, despite requests from Australia. France can take similar measures, said the country's Health Minister Olivier Veran.
Bloomberg spoke about investor concerns due to difficulties with vaccination against COVID-19 in Europe
At the same time, the European Commission claims that the ban on the export of vaccines is not widespread. According to the department, the authorities of European countries approved 174 requests for the export of drugs to 30 countries. According to German government spokesman Steffen Seibert, vaccine exports will not stop as long as manufacturers fulfill their contractual obligations with the alliance. “The EU sends a lot of vaccines to third world countries, while the US and UK export almost nothing,” he added.
Despite the steps taken by the bloc, some European countries did not wait for centralized measures and decided to look for a way out of the current situation on their own. Thus, the authorities of Austria and Denmark reproached the European regulator for slowness and decided to team up with Israel in developing second-generation COVID-19 vaccines that will be effective against mutations of the coronavirus.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said countries should no longer “depend solely on the EU for the production of second-generation vaccines.” He also announced his readiness to vaccinate against coronavirus with a Russian or Chinese vaccine, adding that Austria will try to help local companies with the production of these drugs after approval by the EMA. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen also criticized the EU vaccination program and noted that in such a situation countries can act autonomously.
The European Union has agreed on electronic documents for vaccination against coronavirus
Germany, trying to contain the spread of the virus, has stepped up checks for COVID-19 at the borders with the Czech Republic and Austria and is not going to give them up, despite requests from neighbors and the European Union. In addition, the country has stopped bus services with France, and those crossing the border by car will be selectively asked to take a coronavirus test.
In early March, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, amid accusations against her, said that the commission was “tired of being a scapegoat” and shifted responsibility for the slow vaccination rollout to manufacturers.
USA
Anton Konev - 37 years old
In the United States, as in many countries, vaccination took place in stages. First there were elderly people and those who are at risk for various medical indicators. Then the age limit began to be lowered, and the list of criteria by which one can receive the vaccine was expanded. Plus they began to include workers from different fields. New York State currently opens vaccinations to everyone. Biden has issued a decree that all states must achieve this by May.
There are two ways to sign up for vaccination: online and by phone. The collection of information is the same everywhere, and the vaccine itself is free because insurance covers it. You are given a date about two weeks from the day of the call. There are no queues at the venues.
I received my first shot on March 8th and my second shot last Monday. I got Pfizer. We now vaccinate with three drugs: Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. If you wish, you can choose a vaccine if you sign up for vaccination at a specific center, because each center is assigned one or another vaccine. Mostly people just go where there are free places.
Photo source: Pxhere.com
In general, I could have received the vaccine back in February because I am at risk. I work part-time in a store, which means I am in constant contact with people. However, at that time I could only get the vaccine at a center located an hour and a half away from my home. I decided to wait, but some of my friends went there.
After vaccination, you cannot immediately leave the building. You must sit for 15 minutes in a separate room under observation so that the doctors make sure that everything is fine with you. In general, the entire vaccination process takes no more than half an hour.
I have a lot of friends who have already been vaccinated. Almost every employee in my office has had the vaccine. Now in New York State, 1/3 of people have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and 1/5 of them have already been vaccinated twice.
The virus “does not know geopolitics”
Some EU member states, mainly from the eastern part of Europe, took a different path: they began to purchase vaccines that the EMA did not approve, but their local regulators approved. First of all, we are talking about Chinese and Russian drugs.
EU rules allow any of the bloc's 27 countries to approve vaccines in an emergency, but the responsibility falls squarely on that country's government. Authorization from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) provides greater legal protection. EU countries can freely purchase vaccines not approved by the EMA, but they are prohibited from negotiating and entering into deals with the same manufacturers with whom the bloc negotiates, Reuters notes.
The first European country to approve the Russian Sputnik V vaccine without permission from the European regulator was Hungary. The state also approved the Chinese drug Sinopharm. They were later vaccinated by the country's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who criticized the EU vaccination program and called it too slow.
WSJ spoke about the “campaign” of Russian intelligence services to discredit Western vaccines against COVID-19
Following Hungary, Slovak Prime Minister Igor Matovic announced the use of the Russian vaccine, noting that the virus “does not know geopolitics.” Slovakia, like its predecessor, approved the Russian vaccine for emergency use amid high mortality from COVID-19: according to Bloomberg data as of March 2, Slovakia is the world leader in the number of deaths per capita.
The decision to purchase the Russian vaccine provoked an internal political crisis: Slovak President Zuzana Caputova and a number of other politicians criticized Matovic for agreeing on supplies without their knowledge. The situation was complicated by the prime minister’s joke that the country would pay Russia for the vaccine with part of Ukraine, for which he had to apologize. He later said that the country would not refuse the Russian vaccine.
WHO predicted a third wave of coronavirus in Europe
Other countries in Eastern Europe may also approve vaccines without a decision from the European regulator. Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis announced similar intentions, and the country's President Milos Zeman said that he asked Vladimir Putin to supply Sputnik V to the Czech Republic. Babis, in turn, noted that the country’s authorities may make a similar decision regarding the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine. At the end of February, Bloomberg called the Czech Republic the "world's worst hot spot" due to the spread of coronavirus, and in early March, it ranked second in the world after Slovakia in the number of COVID-19 deaths per capita.
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Croatia is negotiating with Russia on the supply of Sputnik V. The country's Health Minister Vili Beros said Croatian authorities had requested documentation of the vaccine's production to be submitted to the local regulator.
The number of Russians dying from coronavirus in January decreased for the first time since August 2021
Italy is also thinking about using the Russian vaccine. The Lazio region, whose capital is Rome, according to Reuters sources, is ready to purchase 1 million doses of Sputnik V if it is approved by the EMA, and the government of the small European state of San Marino said it has already started using the Russian vaccine. In early March, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) agreed with Adienne Pharma & Biotech to produce the Sputnik V vaccine in Italy from June 2021. The agreement provides for the production of 10 million doses by the end of the year.
In addition, the head of the RDIF, Kirill Dmitriev, said that by the end of March, the RDIF will announce 20 cooperation projects in 10 countries. The fund is currently discussing cooperation with Germany and France.
Polish President Andrzej Duda, in turn, discussed supplies of Chinese vaccines with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Crisis of confidence
French Minister for European Affairs Clément Beaune, in response to the actions of his colleagues, called on EU countries not to use Russian or Chinese vaccines against COVID-19 unless they have been approved by the regulator. According to him, such actions create both problems for the bloc's solidarity and potential health risks due to the fact that the Russian drug has not yet been approved for use in Europe.
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At the moment, the EMA has begun to conduct an examination of Sputnik V, but even if the vaccine is approved, this does not mean that it will necessarily be used, Reuters notes. A representative of the European Commission said that the bloc is not negotiating the purchase of Sputnik V. However, such negotiations can begin if at least four member countries of the bloc request it, a source told Reuters.
The European regulator is also studying the German CureVac vaccine and the American Novavax. In addition, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is under consideration by the EMA, and the regulator is expected to make a decision on it on March 11.
A year since the start of the pandemic: ten stories of businessmen who helped humanity survive it
In addition to disruptions in drug supplies, other factors pose a problem for countries around the world, writes WSJ. The vaccination plan has failed, in part, because people no longer trust authorities and science as much as they once did. For example, during the smallpox outbreak in 1947, 6 million people were vaccinated in the United States in three weeks. In 2009, the Netherlands quickly organized vaccination against swine flu: with the help of the army, the country delivered 6 million doses of the vaccine in six days. During the last major smallpox outbreak in the former Yugoslavia in 1972, authorities were able to vaccinate 18 million of the country's 20 million residents within three weeks, the WSJ writes. Experts say that another important factor that helped quickly control diseases in the past was cooperation between geopolitical rivals, which sometimes does not exist even between friendly countries.
Great Britain
Alexander Mercouris - 60 years old
I have now received my first dose of the vaccine and am awaiting my second. In our country, vaccination of the population occurs in stages. People who can get the vaccine are categorized by age and their area of work.
The government first vaccinated people over 80 years of age. The vaccine is now available for workers in certain fields and people over 60 years of age.
Registration for vaccination is organized through the national medical service. All people in Britain are registered in it and are registered with certain doctors. Once a person is eligible for vaccination, he receives a letter from his doctor inviting him to get vaccinated. After this, the person either calls the vaccination center to choose a place and time for him to receive the first dose, or does it himself via the Internet. For example, I preferred to call. I was given a vaccination date in just a couple of days. We didn't have to wait long. I found out the date of the second vaccination on the spot.
I was vaccinated on March 2nd, and the next vaccination will be on May 22nd. This, by the way, is a very controversial point in the UK, because we are the only country where there is such a big difference between the first and second dose. In most countries they wait three to four weeks, but we wait 12. The government came to this decision in order to vaccinate the maximum number of people in the country with the first dose. At the same time, the authorities say that such an expectation will not affect efficiency.
There are two vaccines used in the UK: Pfizer and AstraZeneca. I was vaccinated with AstraZeneca. It is impossible to choose a vaccine. You just come to the center where you are registered, and there they tell you that they will inject you. Of course, a person can always refuse the vaccine and leave without vaccination.
At the vaccination center itself, everything is also very well organized. No lines or waiting. You walk in, a nurse greets you, injects the vaccine into your left arm, and that’s it. The only thing I can say is that the next day I had a severe headache. But I was warned about this.
Several of my friends have already received both doses of the vaccine, others have received one. My wife is still waiting for permission to get vaccinated because she is under 60 years old. Among the people I know who received the vaccine, everyone was happy with their decision and did not experience any serious side effects. I haven’t noticed any outrage among younger people because they still don’t have access to the vaccine. Everyone understands that it makes more sense to vaccinate the older generation first.
