Germans go off EU over vaccine crisis

GERMANY is rapidly losing faith in the EU amid continuing Covid jab chaos across almost all member states, according to a new poll.

More than 60 per cent of German citizens said their view of Brussels had worsened due to its bungled handling of the vaccine roll-out.

And almost 70 per cent of them laid the blame squarely at the feet of fellow German Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, who admitted l ast week that ‘ mistakes were made’ in the bloc’s approach to procurement of jabs.

She provoked international outrage two weeks ago when she tried to impose Covid controls on the Northern Ireland border. Just six per cent of Germans said their view of the EU had improved.

Last week’s survey of 5,020 people was commissioned by German newspaper Der Spiegel. Its editorial noted: ‘The criticism of the EU comes from all political camps.

‘Even among supporters of the Union, the SPD, the Greens and the Left, more than half said that their image of the European Union had deteriorated. The proportion was even greater for supporters of other parties.’

Meanwhile, the fallout from the vaccine shambles continues elsewhere after France recommended that people who have already recovered from Covid-19 receive just one dose.

The French public health authority, Haute Autorité de Santé, said clinical trials showed that those who had already been infected with the virus developed a natural immune response similar to that bestowed by a single vaccine shot.

Guidelines from the European Medicines Agency ( EMA) state that approved vaccines should be given in two doses.

The move in France comes amid continuing concerns about the low number of jabs being given across the member states due to a poor supply chain. Little more than two million members of the 67 million French population have been inoculated so far.

Hungary became the first EU nation to start using the Russianmade Sputnik V vaccine after breaking ranks with the bloc in approving the jab ahead of the EMA. Trial data released last week suggested the vaccine was 92 per cent effective.

Hungary’s chief medical officer Cecilia Muller revealed last week that two million doses are set to be delivered over the next three months.

The first 2,800 doses will be given to those who have registered with their family doctors in the capital, Budapest. Hungary has also granted approval to Chinese company Sinopharm’s vaccine, with supplies expected to arrive later this month.

Viktor Orban, the country’s farRight prime minister, has previously said: ‘ It cannot be t hat Hungarian people are dying because vaccine procurement in Brussels is slow. ‘This is simply unacceptable.’ Last week, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps revealed that the UK had given first jabs to more people than all of the EU’s 27 member states put together.