Europe’s vaccine disaster | Worldly

Zack, Jenn, and Alex discuss the raft of problems stymying Europe’s vaccine rollout, which has been slower and messier than expected, given some of the earlier successes the continent had controlling infection rates. They talk about why some countries decided to pause administering the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine and how the EU’s decision to negotiate for vaccines as a bloc, rather than as individual countries, slowed down the rollout and exacerbated tensions between some of the wealthier and less-wealthy countries in the bloc. They also discuss what all of this turmoil might mean for the future of the EU as a political institution. References: Politico Europe has a great piece on how the EU fell behind on vaccines. Here’s the survey showing Europe is the most vaccine-skeptical region of the world. The New York Times reported politics may have played a bigger role in the AstraZeneca vaccine freeze than science. The Washington Post reported that Europe may be headed into a third coronavirus wave. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices