EU Vaccine Rollout Severely Lags Behind

While the COVID-19 vaccine rollout rapidly progresses in the United States and the United Kingdom, the EU's 27 member states struggle to make significant progress in their inoculation efforts.

Ridden with supply issues, safety concerns surrounding the AstraZeneca vaccine and, some say, an abundance of bureaucracy, the European Union has fallen way behind in the global race to mass inoculation. According to official numbers tracked by Our World in Data, the European Union had administered 18 vaccine doses per 100 people as of April 5. The recently divorced United Kingdom has already given 55 jabs per 100 people, while the U.S. currently stands at 50 doses per 100 inhabitants.

With new infections surging in many European countries at the same time, the blaze of optimism ignited by the approval of several vaccine candidates in late 2020/early 2021 has temporarily been stifled.