The EU seems to be a bit too good-natured for their own good. They assumed that everyone would play nicely and got double-crossed by the UK and US. I bet they learned a thing and at least regarding AstraZeneca's production inside the EU, they seemed to have taken off the gloves.
> Anecdotally, a friend’s frail father is in a far worse risk group than my mother, yet will be finally vaccinated months later thanks to living in Germany
It's possible to be vaccinated earlier if they are at risk for a severe case of Covid. They might want to consult with their doctor and would need some medical documents to backup the claim. Knowing that it is actually possible might help, so maybe tell them?
to be honest it's less about the EU being good-natured and more about them being bureaucratic. They didn't move fast enough to secure the contract and then distribute the vaccine quickly. That's 100% on them, but now that they're embarrassed they're trying to make the vaccine look like it was a bad thing anyway. That, and threatening to use protectionism to deny AZ the right to fulfil its contracts.
It's very petulant, in the same way if you deny something to a child they could throw a strop and say "well I didn't want it anyway".
> They assumed that everyone would play nicely and got double-crossed by the UK and US.
That's a very peculiar perspective about the UK.
A British university and the British government, supported by British public funds, joined with a British/Swedish manufacturer to create and offer a vaccine to the world at cost (having turned their backs on around £15BN of profit - see Pfizer & Moderna projections).
Why would they not expect that the British vaccine plants supply the British needs first?
> It's possible to be vaccinated earlier if they are at risk for a severe case of Covid. They might want to consult with their doctor and would need some medical documents to backup the claim. Knowing that it is actually possible might help, so maybe tell them?
Thanks, but they (and supportive relatives) are 100% on it. It’s the speed of the roll-out in Germany that’s the issue.
Different federal states have already made use of 75% (Mecklenburg) to 95% (Thuringia) of the doses delivered to them, with most states being in the range of 83-87%. A part of the remaining doses is reserved for second shots and the remaining unused doses really must be because of inefficiences of some sort. Claiming that the speed of roll-out is slow when most federal states have already used more than 6 out of 7 doses that were delivered to them so far is surprising.
Fair point: I'm wasn't seeking to differentiate between vaccine supply and operational efficiency. Ultimately, the end user has little insight into where the issue lies - but thanks for the dashboard link that clarifies this.
So let's be more specific: the slow roll-out of vaccination in Germany seems to be related to failures in vaccine procurement and supply at a national and/or EU level. And this is why frail elderly people are still waiting... when less at-risk people in the UK have already been vaccinated.
> Anecdotally, a friend’s frail father is in a far worse risk group than my mother, yet will be finally vaccinated months later thanks to living in Germany
It's possible to be vaccinated earlier if they are at risk for a severe case of Covid. They might want to consult with their doctor and would need some medical documents to backup the claim. Knowing that it is actually possible might help, so maybe tell them?