Over the past year, the US’s anti-Covid-19 strategy, the world’s largest epidemic area, has not made Europeans feel jealous or admired.
While the Biden administration aims to allow Americans to hold small celebrations on the Fourth of July, Europeans are struggling with the decision of whether to continue receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine or not.
At least 9 EU countries have announced to stop using the AstraZeneca vaccine because of concerns about the risk of them causing blood clots, causing death to the vaccinated person, despite the European Medicines Agency stating that it has not found any evidence.
Medical staff participating in testing Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine in Indiana, USA, last December.
Meanwhile, the number of infections increased again, causing Italy to re-impose a blockade and German health officials warned that the country was about to witness a third wave of Covid-19.
In France, where only 6.4% of the population has received the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, experts have to admit that the US is far ahead of them.
Like other European countries, France’s vaccination program is suffering serious delays due to supply insecurity and a series of other logistical challenges.
Amid that context, anger is rising across the continent over the fact that the European Union (EU) has approved the export of millions of vaccine doses to other countries, including the US, Mexico and Canada, in
Sueddeutsche Zeitung, one of Germany’s largest newspapers, on March 12 called the US ban on vaccine exports `arrogant and outrageous`.
In that context, the controversy over the safety of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has been licensed in Europe but has not been approved by the US, is another blow to Europe’s vaccine deployment efforts, which have been slow.
The fact that the number of infections in many countries tends to increase again is further exacerbating the situation.
In Italy, the emergence of more contagious variants, coupled with the country’s inability to vaccinate quickly enough, is fueling a third wave of the outbreak.
Over the past three weeks, Italy has begun to record a clear increase in the number of infections and hospitals in some areas, such as the northern city of Brescia, have had to issue warnings.
During the previous two waves of the outbreak, in March and November last year, the number of people in intensive care was about 4,000.
The new round of blockade is even more painful when faced with the fact that the vaccination pace in Italy as well as other countries in Europe is extremely slow.
`People are exhausted after a year of so many restrictions and problems,` said Luca Zaia, governor of the Veneto region, northern Italy.
In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government has promised that by September, all adults who want a vaccine will have received at least one shot.
`Sadly, the pandemic has not passed yet,` said Lothar Wieler, president of the Robert Koch Institute, Germany’s federal disease control agency, on March 12.
Germany has been in various levels of lockdown since early November but began lifting some restrictions last week, as schools began to open and in many areas, members of the same household could
But the reopening plan depends on the level of infection and the rising numbers again.
`We’re running a marathon,` Wieler commented.
People wait in line at a vaccination center in Hamburg, Germany.
Germany believes that the main reason for its slow vaccine deployment program stems from supply-related problems.
National statistics show that millions of vaccine doses have been distributed but have not been used in Germany.
Thomas Mertens, head of the German vaccine evaluation committee, said on March 11 that he hoped most people would be vaccinated by the fall.
Tobias Kurth, director of the Institute of Public Health at Charité Hospital in Berlin, commented that the US under the Biden administration `has pursued an effective vaccination campaign`.
According to Kurth, the EU missed an important moment in the middle of last year, when other countries such as the US and UK reached vaccine purchase agreements with manufacturers.
But EU countries still struggle with logistical challenges and are slow to adapt.
Kurth said Germany was unable to adjust its strategy when vaccines that were easier to store and handle, such as AstraZeneca’s, were nearing approval.
They recently decided to allow family doctors, who have long played a key role in Germany’s routine vaccination program, to join the effort.
`We have to simplify everything,` Kurth said, adding that before receiving the first vaccine shot, he had to sign six pages of paper.
Vu Hoang (According to Washington Post)
Aurora