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How did Europe fall behind in the vaccine race?

The reasons why the EU has been so slow at procuring Covid vaccines compared to Britain and the United States.

On June the 12th of last year the 27 health ministers of the European union signed off on a plan to buy vaccines on behalf of all the EU’s member countries. The aim was to secure enough doses to immunise all of its 450 million citizens. But the delivery and vaccination programme has lagged far behind countries like the UK and US. Tanya Beckett finds out why.

(Waiting to be vaccinated at Santa Maria Hospital in Lisbon, Portugal. Photo: Patricia de Melo Moreiro /Getty Images)

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23 minutes

Last on

Thu 11 Feb 202123:06GMT
BBC World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa

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  • Thu 11 Feb 202102:06GMT
    BBC World Service
  • Thu 11 Feb 202108:06GMT
    BBC World Service
  • Thu 11 Feb 202115:06GMT
    BBC World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
  • Thu 11 Feb 202118:06GMT
    BBC World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
  • Thu 11 Feb 202123:06GMT
    BBC World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa

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