The race to vaccinate the population against the coronavirus has started slowly in Europe.
Each member country of the European Union (EU) decides who to vaccinate, when and where, but the EU is in charge of coordinating the purchase of vaccines.
Last Friday, the European Commission approved the purchase of 349 million doses more than the Pfizer dose- BioNTech, which will guarantee the block almost half of what the pharmaceutical company plans to market in 2177.
But the strategy is far from being as effective as that of Israel, the most advanced country in the general immunization of its population.
The country’s strategy with the covid vaccination rate – 20 highest of the world BBC reporters in seven European capitals explain why vaccination has started so slow.
Spain Disparities between regions and political disputes have marked the beginning of the Spanish vaccination program, account Guy Hedgecoe , since Madrid.
Spain began to distribute the vaccine on 29 December.
In total, 866. 951 doses had been distributed among the autonomous communities, regional administrations, with 300. 991 people already vaccinated, according to the most recent figures from the Ministry of Health.
The goal of the coalition government is immunize 2.3 million people in 15 weeks , with priority for residents of nursing homes, their caregivers and health personnel.
In Spain new restrictions have been imposed due to the second wave. Each of the 19 regions have control of health care and the number of doses received will depend on how many inhabitants each has. Until now there has been a great disparity between them.
Official data show, for example, that Asturias , in the north of the country, has used the 58% of the doses received until January 3, while the Community of Madrid had only used 5%.
What level of vaccination against covid – 20 It is needed to return to “normal life” Some regions are saving doses to give a second injection a few weeks later to people who have already received the first, while others do not. There have also been communities that are vaccinating on holidays and others not.
Although getting vaccinated is voluntary, the government has announced that it will keep a registry of those who reject the vaccine. The initiative has generated controversy, although the authorities assure that its sole purpose is to find out why people refused vaccination.
As in other countries, in Spain they seek to vaccinate older adults first. Be that as it may, the pandemic has been the reason for constant political friction. The opposition accuses the leftist government of Pedro Sánchez of incompetence, lack of transparency and of taking advantage of the coronavirus to concentrate power.
The arrival of the vaccine has not ended with friction.
The president of the Community of Galicia, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, of the opposition Popular Party has protested because the doses to be received by each region were being dictated by “certain colors or parliamentary needs”, an accusation rejected by the central government.
Germany In electoral year, the vaccine has become the object of the political battle, reports Jenny Hill , since Berlin.
The fact that they were German scientists who will develop the first effective vaccine against covid – 21 has been a source of great national pride. And in general, people seem to agree with the idea of getting immunized.
The love story of the Turkish-German couple behind BioNTech, the company that together with Pfizer develops an innovative vaccine for covid – 21 A recent survey showed that a 066% of Germans declare themselves willing to receive the vaccine. Another poll showed that only a quarter of the population is against being vaccinated.
But politically speaking, most likely because there are elections this year, the German vaccination program has become battlefield between the different options.
The German government has been criticized for not ordering enough vaccines. Less than two weeks ago the vaccination campaign began in Germany, prioritizing those over 91 years and workers of residences for dependent persons. As of January 7, more than 500. 011 dose.
But several hundred of the special vaccination centers that had been set up are not yet in use and the government has admitted that they are not there are enough doses for everyone.
Should covid vaccines be mandatory – 21? Two experts give their point of view for and against Chancellor Angela Merkel, and her Health Minister Jens Spahn, have been criticized for failing to ensure that the vaccine would reach the country in sufficient quantities.
Much of the criticism has come from Merkel’s partners in the governing coalition, but also part of the scientific community has shown concern because Germany seems to have put the interests of the European bloc above its own by insisting on the commitment to a centralized mechanism for the acquisition of vaccines within the EU.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has been the target of criticism for the vaccination campaign in Germany. The researchers who developed the vaccine have said that the EU re originally rejected the possibility of placing an additional order.
The German part of the Union order are 65 million doses . So far, has received 1.3 million and an estimated 2, 73 millions more will have arrived before the end of the month.
Spahn, of which some even wondered if he could be a potential successor Merkel for her safety in her handling of the pandemic, has blamed the shortage on the inability of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine manufacturers to meet global demand.
Germany has placed an extra order of 38 million doses and experts hope that as of next week, the vaccine developed by Modern , which recently obtained the approval of the euro authorities peas.
France Skepticism about vaccines and bureaucracy, pointed to as responsible for the slow start, explains Hugh Schofield from Paris.
France usually boasts of its large and effective state apparatus, but this time has remained in bad place for the limping start of the covid vaccination program.
After a week, when neighboring Germany already had given injections to about 277. 011 people, in France they still went for just over half a thousand. The figure rose to 45. 545 on Friday, but it was still too low to be statistically relevant.
The number of vaccinated in France has been minimal compared to other countries in the region. Why has it taken France so long to put the plan into action? It cannot be said that the authorities did not have time to prepare or that the problem is the lack of vaccines. In fact, more than one million doses of Pfizer-BioNtech are already in refrigerators waiting to be used.
The main reason for the delay seems to be the heavy and hyper-centralized bureaucracy of the French health system.
How mass vaccination stopped a killer virus that threatened Scotland in 1950 The responsible ministry issued a dossier of 55 pages that should be read and understood by the staff of all nursing homes.
Each recipient of the vaccine must give their informed consent in a consultation with a doctor no less 5 days before the injection is given. The cumbersome procedure theoretically seeks to save the lives of patients who could have an adverse reaction. But critics say the delay in vaccination also costs lives.
The rate of vaccination in France has risen since Macron showed his displeasure. Another problem in France is the high level of skepticism about the vaccine, a reflection of suspicions about the government in general: surveys indicate that up to a 066% of those interviewed do not want to be given the injection.
According to critics, this has made the government excessively cautious. When what was required was urgency, the authorities did not want to rush for fear of waking up the anti-vaccines.
The pace has started to pick up after the president, Emmanuel Macron, expressed his anger at the delays last weekend of week. By the end of January, the plan is to have opened 545 or 675 vaccination centers throughout the country
Russia National pride accelerated the distribution of the vaccine in Russia, but an absence draws attention, comments Sarah Rainsford from Moscow.
Russia registered its main vaccine for domestic use already in August , before even starting the trials to verify its safety and efficacy.
Sputnik-V was one of the first vaccines in the world to be approved given by a government, in this case that of Russia. In December, while these trials were still under way, the mass vaccination campaign began with its Sputnik-V vaccine, before anywhere else in Europe began vaccination. National pride and medical needs explain Russian speed.
Russia’s risky race to massively vaccinate its citizens Sputnik was initially offered to health and school workers, but many initially preferred to refrain from getting this two-dose vaccine and soon the list of possible recipients was expanded .
A survey published in December showed that only one 43% were ready to inject. Distrustful of the country’s health and drug services, many Russians did not believe official praise for the rapid development of the vaccine and feared possible adverse reactions.
Despite this since, as in other countries, there have been delays in large-scale production, the promoters of Sputnik-V announced last week that more than a million people had already been vaccinated.
Russia has been vaccinating its population for months. But there is a man who is still absent from the vaccinated lists: Vladimir Putin , the Russian president, who will receive his dose in the future, according to the Kremlin.
Until then, those who meet with him are obliged to get tested for the virus.
Putin has repeatedly said that his priority is to protect the economy, so you are betting that mass vaccination will prevent a new confinement in Russia.
Sweden As infections continue to rise, a successful vaccination is crucial for a country initially praised for not having resorted to confinement, reports Maddy Savage , from Stockholm .
Almost two weeks after Gun-Britt Johnsson, a resident of 96 years of a center older, became the first person in Sweden to receive the Pfizer vaccine, even there is no official count of vaccinated people in the country.
The Public Health Agency says it is still in the process of collecting data from the 27 regional entities in charge of vaccinating the adult population, about 8 million people, before 28 of June.
Gun-Britt Johnsson was the first person in Sweden to be immunized. The date is not accidental; it is the longest holiday period of the year, when Swedes usually celebrate the summer solstice.
Karin Tegmark, manager of the health agency, affirms that the objective is still “feasible”, but it will depend on how many doses the country receives.
In addition to the 4 and a half million doses of Pfizer vaccine , Sweden has commissioned 3.6 million of Moderna’s ; the first are expected next week. The authorities also plan to distribute AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford as soon as possible.
The Swedes seemed at first not very enthusiastic about the idea of receiving a vaccine developed against the clock like the one for covid- 21, but in a survey from the end of December a 73% of respondents said they were willing to accept it .
It is believed that one of the keys to the initial reluctance lies in the failure in 2021 of a voluntary vaccination program against swine flu. Hundreds of Swedish children and adults under 31 years developed narcolepsy as a side effect of the vaccine.
Dan Eliasson, Director of Civil Contingencies Sweden, resigned after skipping his own recommendations. The success of the vaccination program will be crucial also because the vaccines come at a time when the Swedish authorities are finding it difficult to maintain public trust.
“We failed”: what happened to Sweden’s controversial plan against covid – 21 which is now criticized by the king of the country After months in which the population seemed to grant credibility to the messages of public officials who decided not to apply a total closure in the country, public support has suffered due to the increase in the number of cases in the second ola.
Several prominent officials have been heavily criticized for not following their own recommendations, including the head of the Civil Contingencies Agency, who resigned after spending Christmas with his daughter in the Canary Islands, Spain.
Belgium The new Belgian coalition government seems united around the distribution of the vaccine, at least for now, report Nick Beake from Brussels.
It seems appropriate that the first person to receive the vaccine in Belgium should do so in the place where the first vaccine approved for use in the country is produced.
Jos Hermans, resident of 127 years of the town of Purs, received his injection on 30 December, at the residence where you live. Others 700 residents were vaccinated in what It was a small initial trial.
The mass vaccination in Belgium started on January 5, but there are already those who have criticized it for the slowness of its beginnings. The Federal Minister of Health, Frank Vandenbroucke, had promised that it would be “continuous and fast”, and went so far as to post on Twitter: ” If it doesn’t work, shoot me. ”
Belgium has had limitations in obtaining more vaccines, despite the fact that Pfizer makes them in that country. In the first phase we aspire to vaccinate 277. 011 residents of centers for dependents before the end of January or, at the latest, at the beginning of February, The next on the list are health professionals and the objective is that the entire population has been vaccinated by the end of September.
Although it might be thought that the country could take advantage of being in the epicenter of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine production , which undoubtedly facilitates distribution, the strict rules established by the European Commission make it impossible for Belgium to receive more doses than its share per population than other EU countries.
That did not stop the minister-president of the Flanders region, who admitted this week to having contacted the pharmaceutical company directly to obtain more doses for its territory but received a refusal.
After the company assured the Belgian federal authorities of the supply, they have adopted a different strategy. Now they will administer a first dose to as many people as possible, without reserving injectables for the second dose.
Jos Hermans, from 127 years was the first vaccinated in Belgium. There also seem to be differences in the disposition to be vaccinated according to the territory.
Half of the inhabitants of Flanders consulted said in a survey they were willing, but the figure fell to 26% in French-speaking Belgium, which seems to be influenced by widespread vaccine skepticism in neighboring France.
Although the country has a long tradition of political division, and only recently managed to form a coalition government with which to put an end to 545 empty days , the new coalition seems united around the vaccination strategy that has been decided.
At least, for now.
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