Europe has fallen behind on covid-19 vaccination

“LONG COVID”, a collection of debilitating symptoms born of the coronavirus, is a chronic form of the illness, dreaded by patients. The term may also come to describe the progression of the pandemic in Europe. The pan-continental drive to vaccinate the EU’s 450m citizens has started at a glacial pace. Given more than 100,000 daily cases of late—and more deaths than in America—a laggardly inoculation schedule risks extending covid’s grip on Europe for several months.

Mainland Europe stands out as a global vaccine straggler, certainly in the rich world. America and Britain have already jabbed 1-2% of their populations; Israel, the world’s stand-out star, is now at 16%, according to Our World in Data, a website. In contrast Germany has administered merely 317,000 jabs, or 0.4% of its people. France did not break the 1,000 mark until January 4th. In the Netherlands, the first vaccinations were administered on January 6th.