The starting gun was fired together. The “V-Day”, as the European Commission called the Europe-wide vaccination day on December 27, 2020, was primarily symbolic: the substance was missing over a large area. The continent and its 746.4 million inhabitants were sitting in a boat.
A good four months later, more vaccine has been approved and delivered, but the community of fate is over. Europe has mutated into a vaccine patchwork quilt.
With risk to the top – and syringe
Numerous countries such as Great Britain and small states such as San Marino have taken the lead with sometimes daring strategies and could soon be vaccinated. Others, such as Russia or Bulgaria, lag behind for very different reasons – here more than 90 percent of the population have not even received an initial dose. Even within the EU, for which Brussels negotiated centrally with the vaccine manufacturers, there are huge differences.
How could it possibly come this far?
“The EU can trade contracts, but not a pandemic,” said the American journalist Sabrina Tavernise (50) in a podcast in the New York Times about the sluggish vaccination campaign in Europe.
Of course, it’s not that simple: The joint order was basically a success. All EU countries had access to the vaccine at the same time, no member was ripped off. But when the production and supply of the inexpensive Astrazeneca vector vaccine, which many poorer countries had relied on, stalled, the imbalance began. Confidence in Brussels waned.
Russia and China as alternative suppliers
Hungary, for example, looked enviously at Serbia, which had been flooded with vaccines from Russia and China since the beginning of the year. By the end of February, Belgrade had received more than half a million doses of the vector vaccine Sputnik V – and 1.5 million (!) Doses of the Chinese Sinopharm, which is based on an inactivated virus. Budapest grabbed it.
While the European Medicines Agency (EMA) is still examining the approval, more and more European heads of state and government are trying to get into the new vaccine race.
In Germany, for example, Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU, 54) signed a preliminary contract for 2.5 million cans of Sputnik. Schleswig-Holstein’s Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD, 46) also wants to order on her own. And Putin’s miracle cure is also in the starting blocks in France and Austria.
It would be better to have an authority that checks all vaccines
“From my point of view, it would be better and also more trust-building vis-à-vis the population if an authority in a country or a group of countries – Swissmedic or the EMA – examines the approval of all vaccines. It is not about distrust of Russia or China, but simply about scientific criteria, ”says Cornelia Halin, Professor of Pharmaceutical Immunology at ETH, to Blick.
“The Chinese vaccines are certainly not bad either. But with a vaccine that is based on inactivated viruses, you have to give a lot to get the immune system to kick in, ”says Christian Münz, Professor of Viral Immunobiology at the University of Zurich and head of the Task Force’s Immunology Expert Group. In addition, there is a certain risk because the side effects are not entirely clear due to a lack of data.
Russians don’t feel like Sputnik
This also creates distrust among the population. Although Sputnik is apparently highly effective, just every twelfth Russian is partially or fully vaccinated.
Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic (51) has the same problem: at the beginning of March he had enough vaccine for all Serbs. Nevertheless, the country is only in 6th place in Europe in terms of vaccination progress.
Meanwhile, the EU is more concerned about political side effects. A new EU report criticizes the vaccine strategies and disinformation campaigns in Moscow and Beijing. With their “vaccination diplomacy”, China and Russia tried “to undermine trust in Western vaccines, in EU institutions and European vaccination strategies”.
Switzerland has the right vaccines
There is no reason to panic buying in Europe. Switzerland, for example, has opted for the right vaccine with Biontech / Pfizer and Moderna, says vaccination expert Münz. “With the mRNA vaccines, both the efficiency and the safety profile are the best.” The slow progress in vaccination (11th place in the European ranking is shared with Liechtenstein) is only a problem in the case of a very large wave.
Like in India, for example, where the health system is overburdened. Weeks ago, the largest Astrazeneca producer imposed an export ban in order to get the situation under control. But that’s not enough. “India absolutely has to vaccinate more people,” said the well-known US immunologist Anthony Fauci (80) last week. And advises to buy big from the Chinese and Russians.
Race for summer vacation?
Meanwhile, Europe is facing completely different problems. What if only fully vaccinated people can travel in the summer? Here mRNA vaccinated people would have an advantage because the vaccination interval between the two doses is shorter.
In addition, vaccinated people, for whom vaccines do not work, could spread the virus on – to countries that are still lagging behind. The patchwork quilt will probably remain in place for a long time.