TheEconomistJanuary 30th 2021 391T
he startof 2021 in Europe was meant
to be about jabs aimed at arms. Instead,
it is fingers that are being pointed, and
threats brandished. Delays to covid-19 vac-
cine deliveries in eucountries threaten to
slow the group’s already-lethargic inocula-
tion plans. News of production snafus has
sent tempers flaring as politicians, Euro-
crats and drug firms try to apportion the
blame. Calls for vaccine protectionism to
fix the problem—for Europe—could stop
other countries securing shots.
The eu’s vaccination campaign is al-
ready among the most sluggish in the rich
world: only two doses have been adminis-
tered for every 100 Europeans, compared
with seven in America and eleven in Brit-
ain. Things seemed to be improving, albeit
slowly, as national governments stepped
up efforts to distribute and administer jabs
(see next story). Then AstraZeneca on Janu-
ary 22nd discreetly advised the European
Commission in Brussels that its factories
in Europe were facing difficulties in pro-
ducing sufficient quantities of the jab it
had developed alongside the University of
Oxford. That came on top of Pfizer-BioN-
Tech, another vaccine-maker, also pushing
back promised deliveries by a few weeks.
What AstraZeneca had tried to paint as a
mere logistical rejigging caused an out-
burst of fury rarely mustered by the com-
mission. The eu’s executive arm has been
in charge of procuring jabs for the club’s 27
member states. National politicians had al-
ready groused that Eurocrats had been too
slow to buy vaccines and to approve them.
The news that AstraZeneca deliveries
would be scaled back by two-thirds or more
in the first quarter of the year compounded
the perception of indolence in Brussels.
The commission responded by recy-
cling the anger and diverting it towards the
Anglo-Swedish firm. Stella Kyriakides, the
eu’s health commissioner, pointed to large
prepayments Europe had made to get itsproduction lines up and running and de-
manded a return on its investment. Leaks
suggest the commission thinks that Astra-
Zeneca has been sending Europe to the
back of the queue, perhaps to satisfy other
customers. Jens Spahn, Germany’s health
minister, pleaded for Europe to restrict ex-
ports of doses produced in eufacilities.
On January 26th Britain, fearful lest
such a policy might cut off its imports of
the Pfizer vaccine from Belgium, warned of
the perils of “vaccine nationalism”. It later
emerged that the euwanted AstraZeneca to
compensate for shortfalls in European fac-
tories from its British facilities; since then,
Britain has not repeated its appeals for
cross-border solidarity.Waiting for Soriot
The AstraZeneca delay is particularly un-
welcome in Europe. Though its vaccine
was not expected to be approved by eureg-
ulators until January 29th (and may at first
be reserved for under-55s), the company
had promised lots of jabs quickly. A sched-
ule of expected deliveries in France re-
leased on January 7th suggested that fully
62% of all inoculations in February were to
be with the AstraZeneca serum.
Other eu countries will be in a similar
position. Given that much of Pfizer’s vac-
cine output now needs to be reserved for
second doses for those who have alreadyEurope’s vaccine rows
Shots fired
PARIS
Delays in vaccine delivery are causing tempers to flare and timetables to slip
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