EU Falls Behind In Fight Against Covid-19

"The European Union's fight against Covid-19 is stuck in midwinter, even as spring and vaccinations spur hope of improvement in the U.S. and U.K.

Despite months of restrictions on daily life, new Covid-19 cases have been rising again in the EU since mid-February, as more-virulent virus strains outpace vaccinations.

By contrast, virus infections and deaths have been falling rapidly in the U.S. and U.K. since January as inoculations take off among the elderly and other vulnerable groups. U.S. infections and deaths, which were higher on a per capita basis for most of 2020, have fallen below the EU's.

Governments and public-health experts say only a combination of accelerated vaccinations and gradual reopening can defeat Covid-19's latest rebound. But the EU's efforts continue to suffer from its slowness in procuring and approving vaccines, production delays at vaccine makers, and bureaucratic holdups in injecting available doses. AstraZeneca PLC has warned European Union officials it no longer expects to supply the bloc with around 100 million Covid-19 shots it pledged to bring in from overseas in coming months.

So far, there is nothing like the acute hospital crisis that overwhelmed healthcare systems in parts of Italy and Spain a year ago. Instead, the bloc's public-health crisis has become chronic, with authorities struggling constantly to tamp down the flames.

In much of the continent, the spread of the more-aggressive variant first detected in the U.K. is behind the worsening of the pandemic, undoing strenuous efforts to rein in the virus since the fall with an array of restrictions that have brought the bloc's economic recovery to a standstill.

The eurozone economy is expected to grow by about 4% this year, compared with 6.5% in the U.S., according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. That divergence reflects a larger U.S. fiscal stimulus and faster vaccine rollout, the OECD said this week. Aiming to shore up the flagging eurozone economy, the European Central Bank said it would step up efforts to contain borrowing costs that have surged amid brighter prospects for the U.S. economy and a relaxed stance from the Federal Reserve." [1]

Well, we Lithuanians portray a pooping cat. And each of us, hiding contacts and avoiding testing, and the whole state in general. We are so small and cunning that our numbers are a lie. You want to know how a pandemic unfolds in Lithuania, then see what is happening in Poland and Germany, where there is more order. And the course of the pandemic with us is catastrophic. Therefore, we are closely following the struggle between Nausėda and Landsbergiai for a pleasant ride to the centers of Europe. You need to get distracted ...

1. EU Falls Behind In Fight Against Covid-19 --- Slow pace of vaccine output, rapid spread of more-virulent strain drive rise in cases
Walker, Marcus. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]13 Mar 2021: A.1.