Europe was not prepared for the pandemic, but it must now learn lessons and use all its financial and political resources
For the European Union, the rapid rollout of Covid-19 vaccines is critical to save lives and prevent health services from being stretched beyond their limits, not to mention minimising the massive economic damage from lockdowns. Unfortunately, however, though vaccinations are under way, a rapid near-term increase in infections is likely as the British variant of the virus spreads across the continent.
The problem for the EU is compounded because its vaccination programme already trails Israel, the UK and the US. The best performing EU country, Denmark, has vaccinated a meagre 3.6 people per 100, compared with 45 in Israel and more than 10 in the UK. Germany and France are even further behind. More worryingly, there are no signs that the vaccination rate in the EU is accelerating, unlike in the UK and US, where daily vaccination rates have increased substantially in the past few weeks.
Continue reading…Europe was not prepared for the pandemic, but it must now learn lessons and use all its financial and political resourcesCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageFor the European Union, the rapid rollout of Covid-19 vaccines is critical to save lives and prevent health services from being stretched beyond their limits, not to mention minimising the massive economic damage from lockdowns. Unfortunately, however, though vaccinations are under way, a rapid near-term increase in infections is likely as the British variant of the virus spreads across the continent.The problem for the EU is compounded because its vaccination programme already trails Israel, the UK and the US. The best performing EU country, Denmark, has vaccinated a meagre 3.6 people per 100, compared with 45 in Israel and more than 10 in the UK. Germany and France are even further behind. More worryingly, there are no signs that the vaccination rate in the EU is accelerating, unlike in the UK and US, where daily vaccination rates have increased substantially in the past few weeks. Continue reading…