The vaccine campaign in the EU is proving to be catastrophic, both at supranational and national levels. In both Germany and Italy, a miserable 0.2-0.3% of the population has received the first dose of the BioNTech-Pfizer two-dose vaccination, due to inefficiency and actual unpreparedness among local authorities. Furthermore, the EU Commission has ordered only 200 million doses of the vaccine for a population of 450 million, from several producers, of which only one, so far, has been approved. And whereas the U.S. and Britain have approved the Moderna vaccine, the EU has delayed approval.
The German tabloid Bild published a background story, according to which, last May, government leaders (Merkel for Germany) pressured their health ministers so that they would entrust the EU Commission to buy and distribute vaccines for all member states. It is inexplicable why the Commission has ordered only 200 million doses, when BioNTech had offered a supply of 500 million.
“Give us Helmut Schmidt back,” is the cry launched by former Handelsblatt editor Gabor Steingart in his daily newsletter. The reference is to the episode that made former Chancellor Schmidt famous: When he was police minister in Hamburg and a severe storm hit the city, breaking 50 dams and threatening the lives of thousands of people, Schmidt threw out procedures and, against the Constitution, successfully mobilized the army and NATO to rescue the population.
