KL Winterbourne Associates – Vaccine Delays Threaten EU Recovery

Tokyo, Japan, March 18, 2021 –(PR.com)– As COVID-19 infections are once again increasing in parts of Europe, analysts at KL Winterbourne Associates have warned that further delays in Europe’s vaccine rollout campaign could set the region’s economic recovery back by at least 12 months.

Earlier this week, Sweden joined a growing list of mostly European countries that have suspended any further use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. The decision was made after there were a relatively small number of cases reported where recipients of the vaccine had developed blood clots after receiving the vaccination.

This setback is just the latest in a series of many that have delayed an effective vaccine rollout in Europe.

For the EU’s peers, where vaccination campaigns are on track, economic recovery is expected to happen more quickly. The US has already vaccinated approximately 15% of its population and a recently pledged stimulus package worth 1.9 trillion dollars is expected to help the US economy expand by as much as 8% this year.

The UK is banking on a rapid vaccine rollout to aid its economic recovery and has already vaccinated approximately 30% of its population.

KL Winterbourne Associates analysts have stressed the importance of vaccine rollouts for all major economies. At this rate it is estimated that the vaccine delay will mean that the eurozone economy will not recover until the middle of next year.

Although the European Union is still aiming to vaccinate 70% of its population by the end of summer, ongoing restrictions that remain in place to manage the rate of infection are causing lasting damage to the economy.

“If the vaccination rollout were to catch up and reach its goal of vaccinating 70% of the population by the end of October, this could help to drive a rebound in the latter half of this year. However, it seems unlikely that the EU economy will return to pre-crisis levels of growth before 2023,” says Mr. Taku Ishikawa, Chief Finance Officer at KL Winterbourne Associates.