The problem of supply

 Britain has been applauded for its success in the rollout of  Covid vaccines.  Almost 29 million people in the UK have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine. On average they have been administering 463,439 doses per day with a peak of 1.6m over two days on the 19th and 20th of March.  

However, the dream of a speedy recovery from Covid  in Europe is vanishing as the EU is reaching the end of March with fewer than 70 million doses distributed and only 4.2% of the population fully immunized with both shots.

Brussels was expecting to distribute around 160 million doses during the first three months of 2021, enough to give 22% of the adult population their two shots. It was also expecting to receive as many as 380 million doses during the second quarter, allowing health authorities to increase the immunized population to over 60% of the total.

AstraZeneca is now planning to deliver 100 million doses during the first half of the year, that is to say, 170 million fewer than it had pledged. This means that 85 million people will go without their double-dose treatment. Although there were hiccups at first with supplies of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, they have now been resolved and the EU is receiving its expected quota.  

The over 50s in the UK are now being invited to apply for their first shot of a vaccine. Here in Valencia, they are still working slowly through the over 80s.