Italy Has the EU’s Greatest Vaccine Need
Mario Draghi is new to his job, but without a big improvement in inoculations he’ll soon erode the political goodwill that brought him to power.
Time to make haste.
Photographer: GUGLIELMO MANGIAPANE/AFPIt’s no surprise that Italy was the first European Union nation to say it would restart AstraZeneca Covid vaccinations, just moments after the bloc’s drugs regulator gave its renewed blessing for the shots. All of the EU’s big member states need to jumpstart their painfully slow vaccine drives, but Italy’s need is greatest.
The country has suffered more deaths than any of its EU partners, and its economy is more precarious than most. Prime Minister Mario Draghi is new to the job, but without a serious improvement in inoculation numbers he’ll soon erode the political and popular goodwill that brought him to power, and which he’ll need to pull the euro zone’s third-largest economy back from the brink.