The European Commission has been worried over its handling of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout and leaders are scrambling to defend their decisions. Approval and contract delays put the EU at a disadvantage, and production delays were inevitable; however, the slow collective program has been the major point of criticism from opponents.
As of current statistics, more than 18.5 million doses of the vaccine, a combination of first and second doses, have been given to those living in the EU. The UK is the leader in vaccine rollout with 21 million doses per 100 people followed by the US at 14 million and then the EU sits behind them at 4.4 million doses. Germany has been criticised for lagging behind other countries where only 3.8 mullion doses have been administered by the 11th of February.
President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen has admitted to the faults in the vaccine procurement and has promised more transparency going forward. Von der Leyen says: “We were late in getting approval, we were too optimistic about mass production, and perhaps we were too sure that the orders would be delivered on time,” as well as defending the united front on vaccine orders, rather than letting individual states negotiate their own deals.
Officials say that a surge in production and deliveries later down the line will make up for the current delays, with French president Emmanuel Macron promising a vaccine for any adult who wants one by the end of the summer and German chancellor Angela Merkel promising the same in September.
The EU vaccination program set up in June 2020 allowed the EU to negotiate the purchasing of vaccines on behalf of its member states. This method was chosen as it says it can reduce costs and avoid competition between EU states. The scheme was optional, yet all 27 EU countries joined the scheme. This does not prevent them from making their deals with vaccine producers that are not in the EU’s agreement, for example, Hungary has agreed to buy 2 million doses of the Russian, Sputnik-V vaccine.
The Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine was approved for use in the EU on January 29th, 2021. The EU signed a deal for 300 million doses in August, whilst the UK ordered 100 million doses and had its deal signed in May. AstraZeneca is of notable mention due to its problems around supply, where they blamed it on manufacturing issues at two plants in Belgium and the Netherlands. This meant a reduction in supplies available to the EU by 60% in the first quarter of 2021.
Conflict arose over the UK receiving its doses on time compared to the EU which had to wait due to who signed their contracts first. AstraZeneca said that because the EU signed contracts later it left less time for them to sort out problems in the EU supply chain. They said their agreement with the EU allowed the option of supplying Europe from UK sites, but only once the UK had sufficient supplies.
The EU Commissioner for health Stella Kyriakides said: “The European Union will take any action required to protect its citizens and rights,” in response to AstraZeneca’s delay in delivering its doses to the EU. Kyriakides has emphasised their dissatisfaction with AstraZeneca’s response and will investigate further into which doses AstraZeneca has produced so far, where they have been produced and who has received them.
They have faced similar reactions from Pfizer who said there will also be delays in sending doses to the EU due to production delays in their European supply chains. These delays would have a significant impact on Chief von der Leyen’s promise to vaccinate 70% of adults in the EU by the end of August.
Critics and political opponents are not happy with the commission’s response and are calling for further clarification. The lack of transparency and delays has let to political and public mistrust in the EU. The upcoming weeks will see if they provide this transparency that von der Leyen is promising.
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