The simple fact remains.
The EU threatened to sue AZ for not delivering 40M rather than 80M doses by end of Q1.
As it stands the does AZ has delivered, the EU is barely using it. (irrespective of age group)
From the 1.5M doses Germany has received, they have used just 190,000
From the 1.2M doses France has received they have used just 180,000
From the 120,000 doses Bulgaria has received they have used just 2,000
From the 200,000 doses Belgium has received they have used just 10,000
This is from the FT (slightly different numbers)
If AZ had delivered more vaccines, there is no reason to belive they would not be sitting in the fridge with the other few million. The mere fact there are millions of unused vaccines (during a vaccine shortage during a pandemic) is surely a failure of governments. Thats not spin.
Many people are rejecting the AZ vaccine in the EU given the perception, it is a second rate vaccine.
The Berlin Police Union said
"“Now all of the sudden, because no one else wants the AstraZeneca, they say we can have it,” he said. “It is all still very new, but when others reject something and then it is offered to the police, it is understandable that many colleagues feel burned. And they are worried, there are so many conflicting reports.”
Frank-Walter Steinmeier has also described the issues of perception (and uptake)
“I personally have little sympathy for the reluctance to use one vaccine or another,” he said. “This is a first-world problem, certainly for those who are still waiting for their first vaccination and even more so for people in countries who might not even have the prospect of receiving a first inoculation this year.”
Unions in Spain have raised concerns about a government decision to administer AstraZeneca shots to police, military, firefighters and teachers.
Italian doctors are declining AstraZeneca shots
In Poland Michal Dworczyk, who leads the government’s vaccine effort, said he regretted "that some irresponsible politicians or trade unions have tried to scare teachers or cause such anxiety by giving false information about the AstraZeneca vaccine.”
I could list multiple EU countries which are all suffering to administer the AZ vaccine. That distrust of AZ (rather than simply wider Antivaxxers) has been associated with messaging. There has been undoubted negative press, and politicians criticising AZ. (The two examples I gave above, with the german health minister and French president) just two examples of many.
Communication and trust in government matters. There are numerous studies which state this is true especially for the COVID epidemic. There are a number of poor instances of poor communication by those in the EU (French, Belgium, German figures spring to mind) of the AZ vaccine which has undoubtedly undermined trust.
That is separate but associated with the broader problem is that vaccine skepticism in general is a huge problem in France and Germany.
Recent polls in France indicate that almost half the population will not get the vaccine. Half !
That is a failure of government, and a lack of trust. Thats not simply a nutcase anti-vaxxer minority.
Whilst there are and will be various reasons for this (including medical scandals in the past), ultimately it comes down to a lack of leadership, poor communication and undermined of trust. Examples of this include botched vaccine role out, AZ communication, and reversing the messaging on key health issues (backtracking on mask use, as real reason was lack of supply).
