Vaccine Crisis Worsens in Europe

The New York Times: E.U. Vaccine Shortages Snowball Into A Crisis 
The European Union has been besieged by problems since it approved its first coronavirus vaccine in December and rushed to begin a vast immunization campaign, but now its woes have snowballed into a full-blown crisis. With the pain of supply shortages being felt across Europe, Spain on Wednesday became the first E.U. country to partly suspend immunizations for lack of doses. It announced that it would suspend the vaccination program in Madrid for two weeks, and warned that Catalonia may follow suit. (1/27)

Politico: EU Slams AstraZeneca But Fails In Push For Vaccine 
EU officials lashed out at the pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca on Wednesday but failed to secure commitments to address a “massive” shortfall in coronavirus vaccine production that will leave the bloc at least some 75 million doses short of expectations in the first three months of 2021. “We regret the continued lack of clarity on the delivery schedule and request a clear plan from AstraZeneca for the fast delivery of the quantity of vaccines that we reserved for Q1,” the EU health commissioner, Stella Kyriakides, tweeted after a meeting Wednesday evening that included an unexpected appearance by the AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot. (Herszenhorn and Deutsch, 1/28)

Politico: UK Restricts COVID Medicine Exports Amid AstraZeneca Vaccine Fight 
The U.K. placed a series of export restrictions last year on around 100 medicines that could be used to treat COVID-19 patients despite criticizing others for considering similar limits on vaccines. In response to a question from POLITICO, Prime Minister Boris Johnson chastised the EU at a press conference in Downing Street Tuesday for considering putting restrictions on the export of coronavirus vaccines — calling such curbs "nonsensical." (Isaac and Furlong, 1/27)

The Washington Post: Boris Johnson Takes Heat For Saying U.K. Did Everything It Could About Covid 
After Prime Minister Boris Johnson said his government had truly done "everything we could" to save the 100,000 lives taken by the coronavirus so far in Britain, a broad swath of scientists, public health experts, opposition politicians and ordinary citizens heaped scorn on the prideful assertion. Johnson rightly boasted in Parliament on Wednesday that Britain is a world leader at rolling out vaccines — and is the envy of Europe and the United States, having given a first vaccine dose to more than 10 percent of its adult population. (Adam and Booth, 1/27)

In updates on the Tokyo Olympics —

The Wall Street Journal: Olympic Official Seeks Biden’s Help To Save Tokyo Games: ‘It’s Up To The U.S.’ 
The organizers of this year’s Summer Olympics, scheduled to start July 23 in Tokyo, have pushed back hard on recent speculation that the Games will have to be scrapped because of the pandemic. There is one more person they’d like on the team to press the message: President Biden. “Mr. Biden is dealing with a tough situation with the coronavirus,” said Haruyuki Takahashi, a member of the executive board of Japan’s Olympic organizing committee. “But if he makes a positive statement about the Olympics going ahead, we’d gain strong momentum.” (Gale, 1/27)

Politico: Biden Administration Stays Quiet On 2021 Tokyo Olympics 
Organizers calling for President Joe Biden’s support for the Tokyo Olympics have largely gotten silence from his administration, amid speculation that the summer games could be called off because of the coronavirus pandemic. White House press secretary Jen Psaki has been asked multiple times about whether the president thinks the Olympics, slated to start in July, would be safe, but she hasn’t given an answer. After saying on Friday that she hadn’t talked to Biden about it, Psaki said the same again on Wednesday. (Leonard, 1/27)

The Guardian: Japan Faces Olympian Task With Slow Start To Covid Vaccinations 
The first round of jabs is not expected to begin in Japan until the end of February, months after the US and UK – which have recorded far higher death tolls and caseloads – began their vaccination programmes. On explaining the apparent lack of urgency, officials have pointed to Japan’s relative success in averting a catastrophic outbreak, with 373,000 cases and 5,300 deaths recorded to date. (McCurry, 1/27)

Also —

The Guardian: Backlash Grows For ‘Selfish Millionaire’ Who Got Vaccine Meant For Indigenous People
A millionaire Canadian couple who traveled to a remote community to receive a coronavirus vaccine intended for vulnerable and elderly Indigenous people are facing growing calls for a tougher punishment after they were initially fined C$2,300 (US$1,800) for breaking public health rules. Casino executive Rodney Baker and his wife Ekaterina Baker, an actor, travelled by chartered plane to Beaver Creek, a community of 100 in Canada’s Yukon territory, where a mobile team was administering the Moderna vaccine to locals, including elderly members of the White River First Nation. (Cecco, 1/27)

The Guardian: WHO Team Exits Wuhan Quarantine To Start Covid Fact-Finding Mission 
A World Health Organization team has emerged from quarantine in the Chinese city of Wuhan to start field work in a fact-finding mission on the origins of the virus that caused the Covid-19 pandemic. The researchers, who were required to complete 14 days in quarantine after arriving in China, could be seen leaving their hotel and boarding a bus on Thursday afternoon. It was not immediately clear where they were headed. (1/28)