The sclerotic European Medicines Agency has today announced that, after requesting yet more data from Astra Zeneca, with a “possible conclusion” expected for the end of January, or perhaps even longer, “depending on data and evaluation progress“. It’s not as if thousands are dying every day…

After having received more data from the company, EMA is expecting Astra Zeneca to submit a conditional marketing application for its #COVID19vaccine next week. Possible conclusion - end of Jan, depending on data and evaluation progress. #EMAPublicMeeting2

— EU Medicines Agency (@EMA_News) January 8, 2021

The EU is clearly starting to wake up to how worrying delaying this vaccine is. This morning Ursula von der Leyen announced she is now graciously allowing EU countries to individually procure 300 million more doses. Something that Germany was doing behind their backs anyway. This EU Commission U-turn is a world away from the claims they had ordered “more than enough doses”. Ditching the EU’s disastrous common scheme is perhaps the first big benefit of Britain’s Brexit mindset.