EU chief: Bloc was late, over-confident on vaccine rollout

BRUSSELS (AP) — As the European Union surpassed the toll of 500,000 people lost to the virus, the EU Commission chief said Wednesday that the bloc's much-criticized vaccine rollout could be partly blamed on the EU being over-optimistic, over-confident and plainly “late."

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen defended the EU’s overall approach of trying to beat the pandemic with a unified vaccine plan for its 27 nations, even if she admitted mistakes in the strategy to quickly obtain sufficient vaccines for its 447 million citizens.

“We are still not where we want to be. We were late to authorize. We were too optimistic when it came to massive production and perhaps we were too confident that, what we ordered, would actually be delivered on time," von der Leyen told EU plenary.

Despite weeks of stinging criticism as the EU's vaccine campaign failed to gain momentum compared to the Britain, Israel and the United States, the three main parties in the legislature stuck with von der Leyen's approach of moving forward with all member states together.

“The key decisions were right," said Manfred Weber, the leader of the Christian Democrat European People's Party.

The Socialists and Democrats party leader Iratxe Garcia said “Fiasco, catastrophe, disaster: they ring very true to our citizens," but added her party will stick with von der Leyen on the bloc moving together. “Criticism is necessary but with a constructive spirit."

Von der Leyen's assessment came as the bloc's death toll passed a landmark of 500,000, a stunning statistic in less than a year that fundamentally challenges the bloc's vaunted welfare standards and health care capabilities.

It came as the bloc was fighting off the remnants of a second surge of COVID-19 that has kept...