Delay in Vaccine Rollout

Explaining the Delay in Vaccine Rollout within the European Union
February 3, 2021
Lucca Victorelli

Vaccine rollout within the European Union (EU) has been sluggish compared to other countries like the United Kingdom, which has already surpassed the halfway mark of its promise to vaccinate 50 million individuals, mostly elders, by the middle of February. As of February 3, 2021, less than 3% of EU citizens have received at least one dose of the vaccine. Conversely, 14% of UK citizens have already received at least one dose. Orders for the vaccine made by the European Union were placed much later than those placed by the United Kingdom, by almost three months. In addition, approval for the vaccines by the UK— which approved the Pfizer vaccine on December 2^nd—were given weeks in advance of the EU, which only approved the vaccine on the 21^st of the same month (Chadwick, 2021).

To make matters worse, the CEO of AstraZeneca, another manufacturer producing a COVID-19 vaccine approved for use in both the EU and the UK, claims the company has no contractual obligations to deliver the doses purchased by the EU by a certain time period. The statement came after an announcement that AstraZeneca would not meet the desired first quarter dose quota agreed upon with the European Union, blaming the wait on a delayed agreement (Chadwick, 2021). European Commission President, Ursula Von der Leyen, disputed the statement and called the contract “crystal clear” and declared the agreements with AstraZeneca as “binding orders.” EU Health Commissioner, Stella Kyriakides, maintains that the European Union does not believe that any country should have a priority in receiving vaccine doses from a manufacturer based on when their agreement was made (ibid).

Defenders of the European Union’s negotiation with vaccine companies like AstraZeneca cite the importance of the EU in guaranteeing that smaller countries get a fair share of the vaccines once they roll out. “The EU has the negotiating power. Had it just been a small member state trying to get doses, it wouldn’t have got them,” said former Prime Minister of Finland, Alexander Stubb. Despite the situation looking poor with regards to vaccine rollout, it is undoubtable that the negotiating power held by the European Union made it possible for smaller countries within the Union to have access to the vaccines in the first place (Euronews, 2021). The Commission’s role in this has prevented a “vaccine war” within the European Union, whereby states would have been fighting for access to vaccine supplies and small countries would have little negotiating power with manufacturers (Liboreiro, 2021). Looking forward, Stubb points out that “the key is to coordinate”, especially when “the virus does not respect borders” (Henley, 2021).

German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, also disputed the charged attacks on how the European Union has handled the issue, asserting that delays also have their benefits. In a press conference, she stated that there are good reasons for the delays in vaccine rollout, namely that it allows time to confirm the efficiency of the vaccine and win the trust of citizens. After all, the reception of the vaccine must be positive in order to roll out a plan for the inoculation of all citizens within the European Union. These arguments have also been made by French President Emmanuel Macron and Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen (Henley, 2021). Evidently, there is a significant benefit to this strategy, especially when one takes into account the apparent distrust of the vaccine coming from the general public. A survey for the EU Commission demonstrated that a majority of respondents either did not want a dose or did not desire one immediately, rather sometime in the future (ibid.).

Nevertheless, experts highlight the need to turn away from a blame game between the European Union and vaccine manufacturers–as this conflict has turned into–and toward a cooperative plan in order to reach vaccination goals (Henley, 2021).

The question remains whether the European Union will be able to fulfill its goal of inoculating 70% of its population by the summer of 2021, a feat that definitely will require large-scale cooperation between the European Union and vaccine manufacturers.

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