Merkel admits vaccine shortage amid slow roll-out across Europe

Germany is facing a coronavirus vaccine shortage and may not be able to secure sufficient stocks until July, Angela Merkel privately told MPs this week.

The admission comes amid a shaky start to the vaccine roll-out across much of the continent after the European Commission failed to order enough doses.

The German government has publicly insisted it will be able to make up the shortfall, but it has emerged Mrs Merkel this week told MPs from her Christian Democrat party (CDU) that may not be possible until the summer.

“The question is: do we have enough vaccine at the moment?” Mrs Merkel said on a conference call, according to details leaked to Bild newspaper. “Quarters one and two will be critical. From the third quarter we will be more likely to have a surplus than a need.”

The admission was a direct contradiction of the claims of Jens Spahn, the health minister, who has said Germany will be able to vaccinate its entire population by the end of June.

Around 750,000 people have been vaccinated so far in Germany, out of a total population of 83 million.

The embattled Mr Spahn pledged the situation would improve in in a speech to the German parliament on Wednesday, telling MPs: “It’s only to be expected that the biggest vaccine campaign in history would be a little bumpy”.

Indeed, it has been bumpy across much of Europe.

In France, only a fifth of retirement home staff are willing to be vaccinated, a government minister said this week.

Brigitte Bourguignon, junior minister in charge of “autonomy” for adults and elderly citizens, said more needed to be done to stamp out scepticism among health workers and speed up vaccinations.

Now in the third week of its campaign, France had only vaccinated 190,000 people by Tuesday, out of a population of around 67 million.

Jabs are currently reserved for retirement home residents and staff, health workers over 50, firemen and home helpers. The campaign will be extended to over-75s next week.

“Instead of criticising the campaign, we should spend our time trying to raise awareness among sceptics, notably health workers,” said Ms Bourguignon.

In the run-up to Christmas, several polls suggested only around 40 per cent of French people intended to be vaccinated, compared to around 80 per cent in the UK and 65 per cent in Germany. More recent polls suggest French willingness has since risen to between 56 and 58 per cent.

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Commentators have suggested the French government deliberately got vaccinations off to a cautious start so as not to ruffle vaccine sceptics. Paradoxically, the sluggish roll-out has sparked widespread public outrage.

“The French are a little hard to follow,” conceded Le Parisien in an editorial.

In Spain, results from the first two weeks of vaccinations are patchy. Some regional health departments have used almost all of their stocks while others have failed to keep pace with supply.

Even before the weekend’s heavy snowfall, Madrid was the slowest of Spain’s regions. It has administered only 36 per cent of the close to 99,000 jabs it was allocated in the first two weekly deliveries from Pfizer, well below the national average of 66 per cent.

In Italy, since the vaccination programme began on Dec 27, 788,000 people have received the jab. Of those people, 616,000 are medical workers while 57,000 are elderly people living in residential homes.

Italy has vaccinated the second highest number of people in Europe, after the UK.

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