Vaccination around the world started stumbling and slowing down, why?

On December 27, vaccination began in Europe. This day was the day of the symbol, the day of the image of the elderly who received the first doses of vaccines. Celebration day. Barely 10 months after the detection of the first cases of coronavirus in Europe, there were already effective vaccines. The next day began a process which, with substantial differences between the 27 countries of the European Union and with a prominent UK, shows that the promises to vaccinate hundreds of millions of Europeans in just a few months have been made regardless real capacity do this.

In the United States, where the process started earlier and “full blast” in the biggest vaccination campaign in history, the same thing happened. And promises to vaccinate millions quickly fell on deaf ears.

As of December 31, the goal of vaccinating 20 million people collapsed against only 2.6 million vaccinated.

Europe: lack of organization

Criticisms were first addressed to the European Commission, but it recalled that its work, get the vaccine, did it in spades by agreeing with pharmaceutical companies to buy some 1.8 billion doses. Eric Mamer, spokesperson for the European Commission, said on Monday: “We are at the start of the deployment. We act as if the campaign is over and is just beginning. Obviously a challenge like this there will always be potholes on the road”.

Brussels hopes that by leaving addition of vaccines other pharmaceutical companies reach a weekly production of tens of millions of doses. It would be, on the stage of the European executive, already half April. But for now more than vaccines, the organization is lacking.

The European Commission could be rightly beaten if, by the time governments wake up and speed up vaccinations, they don’t have enough doses to do so because she was in charge of the purchases. In some cases late. Brussels ordered 200 million doses of the vaccine from Pfizer / BioNTech on November 11 when the United States ordered the 22nd of July.

Brussels then refused to buy more because, he says now, he had to bet on several different vaccines because he did not know which would be the first available. These days, it is negotiating with Pfizer / BioNTech to expand its delivery of an additional 300 million doses. Some governments, such as Luxembourgers, recognize that without the European Union for the moment, they would still be waiting for a vaccine.

A diplomatic source said on Tuesday: “Imagine a European Union where some countries, such as Germany, Denmark or Sweden, already vaccinate while others, such as Spain, Italy, France or Greece , still waiting. That would have been politically toxic. The strategy is good and governments must prioritize logistics and vaccine administration, because at the moment there are more than enough.

Another problem: logistics

The problem, 10 days after the start of the vaccination, seems to be mainly vaccine logistics. Some countries seem better prepared than others, none particularly well, although all promise that will speed up vaccination rate.

Without counting a United Kingdom which promises 17 million vaccinations by the end of February and which seems to be on the right track to achieve this, Germany had just over 250,000 vaccinated on Monday evening when it had already received 1, 3 million doses, Italy was for a little over 120,000 and Spain has just passed 80,000. France barely exceeds 2,000 and the Netherlands I hadn’t even started.

The problem it’s not the lack of vaccines. France received half a million doses of Pfizer / BioNTech before the end of the year and had vaccinated fewer than 500 people by day 31. In other words, he had used 0.1% of the doses received. Emmanuel Macron’s government has been accused of not being vaccinated because he would wait until he is ready a French vaccine, that of the pharmacist Sanofi. The French government denies it, but it is making little progress and on Monday chose 35 people by lot to form a committee that will comment on the country’s vaccination strategy.

“They are laughing at us. Today being vaccinated is more complicated than buying a car,” Jean Rottner, president of the Grand Est region, one of the most affected by the pandemic in France, denounced Monday.

Spain has pierced until Monday evening just over 80,000 doses when it had received 350,000 before the end of the year and another 350,000 on Monday. But Spain, with its health system decentralized by the regions, shows that organization is essential and that some regional governments have been prepared.

With the data of Sunday January 3, in the Canary Islands, more than half of the doses received had already been perforated, in Asturias more than 30% and in the region of Madrid 3%. A week earlier, the president of the Madrid region, the conservative Isabel Ayuso, had protested to the central government because she felt they were giving her few vaccines. Asturias announced this Tuesday afternoon that they had already perforated all the doses received during the first week of the process, which took place from Monday December 28 to Sunday January 3.

Fear of getting vaccinated

This is another non-contributing factor. In France, 56% of people do not want to be vaccinated. And in Italy, the anti-vax movement is strong. The same doctors refuse to apply the vaccine, waiting for the effects of the doses on the population before testing them on them,

In Germany, Health Minister Jens Spahn had to ask doctors and nurses to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.

“It’s a common sense imperative and the solidarity that those working in public health are also vaccinated, for their own protection and that of the patients who have been entrusted to them ”, he declared.

United States: cloudy

The Operation Warp SpeedThe US government’s “speed of light” operation to accelerate vaccine development and distribution does not do the name justice.

At this rate “it will take years, not months” to protect the country, complained at the end of the year President-elect Joe Biden, who had promised to administer 100 million doses during his first 100 days in office. .

The race to vaccinate millions of Americans has got off to a slower and more complicated start than anticipated by public health officials and the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed ​​leaders.

Overworked state health services and insufficient funds they struggle to make plans to administer vaccines. Counties and hospitals have taken different approaches, leading to long queues, confusion, frustration and congested telephone lines.

A multitude of logistical concerns they have complicated the process of trying to roll back a virus that has killed more than 340,000 Americans.

To date, just over 4.2 million people have received the first dose of one of two vaccines licensed in the country (Pfizer and Moderna), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The figure is still far from the 20 million expected by the end of the year.

“There were some flaws, understandably,” the government’s chief science adviser, Anthony Fauci, told ABC. He added that “launching a mass immunization program and getting it off to a good start” was always going to pose challenges.

United States Medical Director Jerome Adams told CNN vaccines started against a difficult backdrop: amid an explosion in the number of cases and around the time of the year-end vacation, which put tests already saturated medical equipment.

Trump has shirked all responsibility. And on Sunday, he blamed local governments for the delays: “Vaccines are being distributed to states by the federal government faster than they can administer!” He tweeted.

Optimistic look

However, experts are optimistic about the speed of the campaign.

“The good news is that we are seeing (the pace) picking up quickly thanks to our partners in the states,” said US medical director Jerome Adams, nominated for the job by Trump himself.

“In the past 72 hours, 1.5 million first injections have been administered … which equates to 500,000 per day,” he added.

“It’s much more than at the beginning,” said Anthony Fauci, America’s leading infectious disease specialist.

“We can reach a million a day,” he added confidently. “We have had massive immunization programs in our history. There is no reason we cannot do this today. … We can do it.”

Redaction, Clarín

Idafe Martín contributed to this report from Brussels

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