Europe Facing ‘Uphill Battle’ With Covid Vaccines. Vaccine Exports Are Now Being Blocked

 

CNBC: Europe facing ‘uphill battle’ with Covid vaccines as Italy blocks AstraZeneca shipment 

 * Europe’s vaccine rollout “will be an uphill battle,” Daniel Gros, director of the Centre for European Policy Studies think tank in Brussels, Belgium, told CNBC on Friday. 

 * In an executive order in early December, then President Donald Trump ordered that the U.S. should only export vaccines produced in the country once it was established that there were sufficient doses to inoculate the American population. 

LONDON — Europe’s coronavirus vaccine rollout has been thrust into the spotlight once again after the Italian government blocked a shipment of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines to Australia.

The EU has struggled to distribute Covid-19 shots across the 27-member region and is lagging other advanced economies in the number of inoculations per citizen. 

There are complaints that regulators are too slow to approve vaccines, there has been manufacturing and delivery issues and national red tape, hindering the process. 

Read more .... 

WNU Editor: And so it begins .... ‘Someone Had to Go First’: Europe Kickstarts Vaccine Nationalism War (Daily Beast). 

 More News On Europe's Vaccination Program 

France backs Italy in vaccine ban as EU defends mechanism -- AP 

France, EU back Italy's decision to block Covid-19 vaccine shipment to Australia -- France 24 

France could follow Italy and block vaccine shipments, health minister says -- CNN 

Italy’s ban on AstraZeneca exports to Australia raises fears of vaccine nationalism -- Market Watch