Latvia
Chaos: Largest of EU’s three ex-Soviet Baltic states admits mass vaccination of its two million people won’t begin before April. Only 30 first-time doses given on Thursday, while 738 people received second shot. Total jabs so far is 23,091. Country was offered 800,000 Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines and PM Arturs Krisjanis Karins has said he is ‘confused’, claiming someone ‘in our system’ decided secretly to take only 97,500.
Poland
Major unrest: Only 1.1 million jabbed of 38 million population. Long queues at medical centres led to demonstrations, including one in Warsaw by senior citizens, right, who protested outside the capital’s Chancellery about waiting times for jabs – while the country’s PM Mateusz Morawiecki was inside. Serious shortage of doses has caused some hospitals to suspend sessions when they didn’t get Pfizer supplies and anger over claims that celebrities and politicians jumped the queue. 20,000 defiant businesses have reopened, with some gym
After Slow Start, Europeans Call For Quicker Vaccines Against COVID-19
Wednesday, January 6, 2021
A nurse prepares to administer the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to Dr. Jean-Christophe Richard in La Croix-Rousse hospital, in Lyon, France, on Wednesday. Amid public outcry, France s health minister promised Tuesday an exponential acceleration of his country s slow coronavirus vaccination process.
Laurent Cipriani / AP
From France to Germany to The Netherlands, Europeans are venting frustration over the pace of their COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
The European Union began administering the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Dec. 27 two weeks after the United States and almost a month after the United Kingdom, which recently left the EU.
BBC News
By Anna Holligan
image captionA new test and vaccination centre near Assen
The Dutch army is cleared to help hospitals, intensive care units borrow beds from other wards, patients are sent to Germany for treatment, routine operations are postponed, a nationwide lockdown is in place - and still no vaccinations.
In a proudly well-organised country, with a well-funded health service, the first Dutch nationals will receive their coronavirus jabs on Wednesday - ten days after their European neighbours and nearly a month after the UK.
The Dutch government has come in for stinging criticism. One former public health director, Roel Coutinho, warned the country s shameful vaccination strategy was going to cost lives .
U S could see up to 150,000 more COVID-19 deaths by February as new strain takes hold, expert warns morningstar.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from morningstar.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.