JEK
Senior Insider
It is an opinion piece, but lots of troublesome points are made.
The real reason goes deeper. It lies in a risk-averse European culture marked, in several countries, by skepticism about vaccines. As a safeguard against public backlash, Europe’s leaders sought to secure as many guarantees as possible. Tellingly, one of the most difficult points in the negotiations with vaccine manufacturers was the degree of liability the bloc wanted them to accept if anything went wrong. A source close to President Emmanuel Macron of France told me the bloc had been concerned about combining speed with security guarantees — two imperatives that, unfortunately, seldom go well together.
The real reason goes deeper. It lies in a risk-averse European culture marked, in several countries, by skepticism about vaccines. As a safeguard against public backlash, Europe’s leaders sought to secure as many guarantees as possible. Tellingly, one of the most difficult points in the negotiations with vaccine manufacturers was the degree of liability the bloc wanted them to accept if anything went wrong. A source close to President Emmanuel Macron of France told me the bloc had been concerned about combining speed with security guarantees — two imperatives that, unfortunately, seldom go well together.