The United States and the United Kingdom are outpacing the European Union when it comes to vaccinating citizens against COVID-19. The main reason why that's the case, The New York Times reports, appears to go all the way back to last year.
Early on, the U.S. and U.K. governments threw a lot more money at, and were much more involved in, vaccine development than the EU, which "shopped for vaccines like a customer," the Times writes. Brussels "assumed that simply contracting to acquire doses would be enough," Dr. Moncef Slaoui, who was hired by former President Donald Trump to oversee Operation Warp Speed's vaccine development, told the Times. "In fact," he added, "what was very important was to be a full, active partner in the development and manufacturing of the vaccine. And to do so very early."
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