Is Europe’s vaccination nightmare coming to an end?

After a slow start, the European Union’s vaccination campaign gained momentum this month. The bloc expects total deliveries to reach 188 million on May 3. He also closed a agreement with Pfizer-BioNTech to deliver 1.8 billion additional doses by 2023 and hopes to conclude negotiations with the American biotechnology company Novavax soon.

The main Member States, such as Italy, France and Germany are currently vaccinating hundreds of thousands of people per day.

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With the EU in recession again and most of the continent still facing restrictions, the latest data will be welcome after the EU struggles with a slow vaccination process.

Unlike Britain and the US, EU sourcing efforts have not prioritized domestic deliveries. As of March, around 77 million doses had been exported from the EU to 33 countries, in addition to millions of vaccines for low-income countries through the Covax mechanism. (Center for Global Access to Covid-19 Vaccines). Since January, the EU has introduced rules according to which companies must have an export license. So far, only one delivery has been blocked.

As national governments step up the pace of their immunization campaigns, the EU still hopes to meet its goal of vaccinating 70% of the adult population by the end of the summer.

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Coronavirus figures

• 30.2 million The number of covidus cases in the EU and the European Economic Area as of April 29, according to the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC).
• 159 million The number of vaccines delivered to the EU at the end of April.
• 136 million The number of vaccines administered by EU Member States so far this week.

Because it is important

EU slowness in vaccine application means plans to reopen EU economies will lag behind those of the US and UK, which could add billions of dollars more to the cost of recovery after months of restrictions.

Further delays risk generating political instability and anti-European sentiment, with national politicians blaming Brussels. Other risks increase trade disputes between allies, making it more difficult to focus cooperative efforts on other common challenges, increasing pressure on industries that expect Europe to open up soon.