Hani Redha, a portfolio manager at PineBridge Investments, pointed to the speed of distributing Covid-19 vaccines and lingering lockdown measures contributing to a ‘double whammy’ of bad news for markets, the Wall Street Journal reports.
“I think the market expected that by now we would be talking about loosening, not tightening restrictions,” Redha told the WSJ. “On the vaccine rollout, this is very problematic for the near term. It is very critical for shaping the growth bounce back, and these issues are just adding more delay to that.”
There were previously speculations of friction between AstraZeneca and European Union officials over a vaccine shortfall. Meanwhile, the Biden administration has set an optimistic target of providing enough coronavirus shots to vaccinate most of the U.S. with a two-dose regimen by the end of summer.