Covid vaccine in Europe, problems and controversies: what happens

Published on: 02/01/2021 6:14 PM

The French Minister of Health Olivier Veran announced today the start of the anti-Covid vaccination of health personnel in hospitals over 50 years old. His decision comes after the controversy over delays in France, where so far a few hundred doses of the vaccine have been administered in 5 days.

But controversy and problems with the arrival of the coronavirus vaccine have also erupted in Germany and the Netherlands. The German opposition party Die Linke joins the criticism of the Berlin government’s vaccination strategy: “An explanation must be found for the fact that the doses are low and where there has been negligence,” said the secretary of the parliamentary group of the party. On the left, Jan Korte, for whom Health Minister Jens Spahn must give explanations to the Bundestag as soon as possible.

“I asked the hospitals to open vaccination without delay for health professionals over 50 years old. The president of the medical order received it today,” Veran tweeted, promising to open 100 vaccination centers throughout the territory per week . following. Veran had announced on the 31st the start of the vaccination of health personnel from Monday, but now he has advanced further.

Meanwhile, geneticist Axel Kahn, president of France’s National Cancer League, criticizes the bureaucratic slowness of vaccination in a post on social media titled “Anatomy of a Disaster.” We use only “400 doses” of the vaccine, the doctor wrote this morning, denouncing that informed consent procedures for RSA hosts, the highest priority in the vaccination campaign, last up to 5 days. “Asking for consent is normal”, but “we must not exaggerate”, he emphasizes.

Under pressure from doctors, the Dutch government announced that the coronavirus vaccination campaign will begin next week, prior to the originally chosen date of January 8. The Netherlands is the only country in the EU that has not yet started vaccinations, a decision that the executive has justified with the need to ensure that the program works in the best possible way.

The original plan called for a symbolic start on January 8 and then on January 18, the campaign began at full speed. But medical associations protested, wondering why not immediately use the 175,000 doses that have already arrived in the country. Faced with the protests, the government announced today that 30,000 doctors and nurses will be vaccinated next week. More details will be released on Monday. The executive has also changed priorities, starting with the hospital staff, rather than the RSA. In fact, medical associations had stressed that hospitals are having more and more difficulties, also due to infections among staff.