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THEWEEK 6February 2021
The main stories...
It wasn’tall bad
TheCommission’svaccineprogrammehasprovided“thebest
possibleadvertisementforBrexit”,saidDieZeit(Hamburg).
“Itisactingslowly,bureaucraticallyandina
protectionistmanner.Andifsomethinggoes
wrong,it’severyoneelse’sfault.”Itsblunders
arecausingseriousdamagenotjusttotheEU’s
citizens–bydelaying thevaccineroll-out–but
alsotoitsimageintheworld.Thedecisionto
invokeArticle 16 oftheNorthernIreland
protocol,overridingBrexitarrangements,
wasa“seriousmisjudgement”,saidTheIrish
Times.It’sextraordinarythatvonderLeyen
shouldhavewadedintothisultra-sensitivearea
withoutevenconsultingDublin.ThevaccineprogrammehasshownBritain
atitsbest(seepage2 4 ),andtheEU“atits
worst”,saidTheObserver.“Inorderto
demonstrateEU‘solidarity’andthepower
ofthesinglemarket”,all 27 memberstateswereinvolvedin
theacquisitionprocess.Inevitably,thissloweditup:anEU
contractwithAstraZeneca,readyinJune,wasn’tsigneduntil
August(threemonthsaftertheUK’s).Otherorderswereheld
upamidhagglingoverpriceandliabilityissues–meredetails
in apandemic.Europe’s medicines regulator has also
“dithered”, too: the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine was only
approvedlast week.The EUmust“getits house in order”.UrsulavonderLeyen,theEuropean
Commissionpresident,defendedtheslowroll-
outofCovid-19vaccinesacrosstheEUthis
week,andsuggestedthatnationswhichhad
movedfasterhadcompromisedon“safetyand
efficacy”.TheCommission,whichnegotiated
thebloc’svaccinepurchases,hasbeengreatly
criticisedoverdelaystodelivery.Bymidweek,
theEUhadadministeredjustthreedosesper
100 people,comparedtotenintheUS,and
15 intheUK.JensSpahn,theGermanhealth
minister,saiditwouldbe“atleastanotherten
toughweeks”beforevaccineshortageseased.Lastweek,theCommissionbecameembroiled
inarowwithAnglo-Swedishdrugmaker
AstraZeneca,whichhadannouncedthatit
couldsupplyonly 31 millionofthe80milliondosesofthe
OxfordvaccineorderedbytheEUforthefirstquarter.The
EUimposedrestrictionsonvaccineexportstoothernations,
includingtheUK–adecisioncriticisedbytheWHO.The
CommissionalsotriedtoimposecontrolsattheIrishborder,
bytriggeringaclause intheBrexitagreement. Both Boris
Johnsonandthe Irish TaoiseachMicheálMartin expressed
“deep unhappiness”, and thedecision was abruptlyreversed.What happened What theeditorialssaid
Von der Leyen: under pressure
Vaccine wars
Thiswas “not acoupd’état in theconventionalsense”,
said TheTimes. Themilitary already pulled the strings in
Myanmar.Its generalsdraftedthe 2008
constitution by which the country isgoverned;
thearmy isguaranteed aquarter ofseats in
parliament andcontrolsthreeof themost
powerful ministries. But the militaryhadfailed
to grasphowunpopularithas become, inthe
wakeofSuu Kyi’s triumph in thecountry’s
first democratic election in 2015. Andeven
thoughobserversdeemed November’s elections
fair, saidthe South ChinaMorningPost,the
generalscried foul. Alas,the depressingturnof
events thathas followed“rolls back the clock”
onyear sofhard-wonpolitical reforms.Butmuchhaschangedsincethe armyfirsttook
power inMyanmarin 1962, saidthe FT.The West is better
able to putpressure onrogueregimes withtargetedsanctions,
and the nationis now steeped in pro-democracy activism.
“The flameofMyanmar’sdemocracy burntin darkness for
years.Evennow,itmay nothave been entirelyextinguished.”Myanmar’s armed forces stagedadramatic
earlymorning coup this week, returningthe
fledgling democracyto military rule. Min
AungHlaing,anarmy general, assumed
control of the country and declaredaone-
yearstate of emergencyonMonday,hours
after AungSanSuu Kyi andother members
of the rulingNationalLeague for
Democracy(NLD)party she leads had been
detained inpre-dawn raids. InNovember,
the NLDhadtrouncedarival, army-backed
party inageneralelection which military
and oppositionfigures claimedwas rigged.The coup–inacountry which had been
ruled bythemilitary for50years until 2011–wasswiftly
condemned byforeignleaders,including BorisJohnson.
Neither Suu Kyi nor her loyal ally,PresidentWin Myint,
have been seensincethemilitary tookcontrol; theyboth
face criminalcharges widely condemned as trumped-up.What happened What the editorials said
The coup in Myanmar
The number of people
diagnosed with the flu has
plunged by 95% in England this
year, to levels not seen for 130
years. In the second week of
January–usually the season’s
peak–GPs reportedaflu rate of
1.1 per 100,000, compared with
afive-year average of 27. In the
same week, atatimewhen
there are usually thousands of
serious cases, zero flu patients
were admitted to hospital.
Experts credited better hygiene,
good flu jab uptake and social
distancing for the drop.AJewish man has bequeathed
asizeablechunk of his fortune
to the French village whose
residents hid him and his family
during the Second World War,
despite the risk to their own
lives. Eric Schwam, who died
aged 90 on Christmas Day, is
believed to have lefts2m to
the remote mountain village of
Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, which
gave shelter to 3,500 Jews
during the war. Schwam and
his family arrived in 1943 and
stayed until 1950. In his will, he
said the gift was an expression
of his gratitude, and suggested
it be spent on youth services.ASwedish nurse has been
selected to be the sole
attendee at Scandinavia’s
biggest film festival this
year. The Gothenburg film
festival has chosen to go
ahead despite the
pandemic, and selected
Lisa Enroth from 12,
applicants to spend a
week on the remote island
of Pater Noster watching
every film. “In healthcare,
Iseem to have spent ages listening, testing and consoling.Ifeel
like I’m drained of energy,” she said. “The wind, the sea, the
possibility of being part ofatotally different kind of reality for a
week–all this isreally attractive.” She will keepadaily video diary
that will appear on the festival’s website.
COVER CARTOON: NEIL DAVIESSuuKyi:“trumped-up”charges