I take no heart in the situation on the continent but it does seem to me to be an indicator that this is, and has been, a very difficult situation for the respective parties to deal with that relegates politics to the sidelines. I think it is unfair, and easy, to cast blame on the individuals at the top of the various organisations involved in trying to stem the virus both here and in Europe etc.
I take your point but will venture a comment anyway!
I had got the impression that but for von der Leyen and/or those responsible for negotiating with the suppliers Germany, for example, might have had say double the amount of vaccine and therefore vaccinated 5 million instead of half that. I'm now not so sure.
The big success story in this is America. They have vaccinated the greatest number, and this is largely due to Trump, although few now wish to acknowledge it. The EU ordered nearly
4 months after the Americans. The refusal to take the shorter route to authorisation may have added 3 weeks or so.
The Irish border rumpus was a storm in a teacup, initiated by Leyen and not the member states. Taken with the above this more than makes me question von der Leyen's competence, and if a reasonable extra supply of vaccine could have been obtained but for her interference she should go. We are barely at the end of the beginning of the pandemic and cannot afford further mistakes like this. Otherwise you are right, you cannot undo what has been done.
There was a vaccine conference in Berlin today where all the frustration could be aired. The govt has been honest: the first quarter will lag behind expectations. The second quarter looks much more promising, with both restored extra production, and new production. After that it gets better even without new vaccines which in all probability will have been licenced and produced by then. This will carry on into 2022. All depends on no unforeseen circumstances changing this. It should be possible to 'do' everyone who wants a jab by September.
This is good news inasmuch as the extra production could be needed for refresher vaccines, changed to cope with mutations, and the rest of the world also needs to be supplied as well, and there is hardly a surfeit of places capable of producing such vaccines.
The comment that summed it up for me was 'we may be frustrated at the slow progress and wish we had more, but we should be grateful that we have a vaccine at all'.
