- Despite a third wave of infections and increased lockdown measures, Europe is still grappling with the virus.
- More than a year after the coronavirus epidemic was declared a pandemic, the area is seeing an increase in cases.
- At the same time, the EU’s vaccination program is lagging due to manufacture and supply problems.
- This week, European Union officials will meet to discuss possible vaccine export bans.
More than a year after the coronavirus epidemic was declared a pandemic, Europe is still fighting the virus, with a third wave of infections and lockdown measures being implemented.
At the same time, the bloc’s vaccination rollout has been slowed by manufacturing and supply problems, to the point where European Union officials are meeting this week to explore the possibility of imposing vaccine export bans once more.
It comes as a number of nations reintroduce lockdowns to combat a third wave of infections, with France, Poland, and Ukraine all putting in place tighter measures over the weekend that will last at least a few weeks.
In an effort to keep up with growing case numbers, largely attributed to new, more contagious Covid variants, a month-long partial lockdown was reintroduced in Paris and 15 other French areas on Saturday.
Vaccine battles
While many parts of the EU are seeing an increase in coronavirus cases, the EU’s vaccination rollout is slow and controversial.
On Thursday, EU leaders will meet virtually to discuss whether to halt vaccine exports while supplies within the region remain scarce and the EU’s vaccination programme lags behind that of other developed countries.
Despite the fact that two of the vaccines it has permitted for use — the Pfizer-Biotech and AstraZeneca-University of Oxford shots — are manufactured in the EU, the EU has been chastised for bulk-ordering coronavirus vaccines later than the UK and the US, and has had to deal with supply issues as a result.
According to reports, the EU may halt exports of an AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured in a Dutch plant, jeopardizing the UK’s so far successful vaccine rollout. Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, is expected to contact his European counterparts in an attempt to break the vaccination impasse.
The AstraZeneca-Oxford University vaccine’s rollout has hit snags in recent weeks, with a handful of European nations suspending use of the shot due to fears about a possible link to blood clot reports.
The decision led to the vaccine’s suspension being lifted in most (but not all) of the European countries that had banned it, but the move could erode public confidence in the vaccine, which was already shaky due to misplaced doubts about its effectiveness in the over-65s.
