Matthew Lynn Matthew Lynn

The EU’s vaccine shambles is turning into a re-run of the euro crisis

(Getty images)

Rewind a few months, and it was all meant to be very different. With Covid-19 rampant across the world, the European Union would take charge of sourcing vaccines from the major drugs companies. Its massive buying and regulatory power, coupled with its finely-tuned administrative machine, would make sure its 440 million people were protected from the virus before anyone else. It would be a magnificent demonstration of the whole point of the organisation. The trouble is, not only has the project already started to come off the rails, it is getting worse with every day that passes. Europe’s vaccine alliance is crumbling with potentially far-reaching consequences.

Europe’s vaccine alliance is crumbling with potentially far-reaching consequences.

The president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen was already under intense pressure last week after it emerged the EU had bought too few of the wrong vaccines. This week, countries have started to peel away from the programme. First Germany ordered another 30 million doses of the BioNTech-Pfizer jab. Today we learned that the Cypriot president Nicos Anastasiades has started begging the super-efficient Israelis – with 20 per cent of its population already vaccinated – for some spare supplies. That is especially embarrassing because the health commissioner in charge of the program, Stella Kyriakides, happens to be from Cyprus. A vote of confidence in their woman in Brussels? Not really. 

In response, Von der Leyen has started telling all 27 members that they should not be snapping up their own supplies. ‘We have all agreed, legally binding, that there will be no parallel negotiations, no parallel contracts,’ she said. ‘We’re all working together.’

Sending in the lawyers, however, is hardly going to fix the problem. Not every country has gone as far as buying their own supplies (although a lot of phone calls may be going into the Pfizer HQ) but many more are starting to complain.

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