Europe Is Experiencing Two Very Different Pandemics
There’s a deadly continental divide opening up between countries in the west fighting complacency and those in the east fighting vaccine hesitancy.
Bulgaria is among the countries with the highest number of Covid deaths compared to its population.
Photographer: NIKOLAY DOYCHINOV/AFPA year ago, the course of the pandemic changed, thanks to the first safe and effective vaccines against Covid-19. Today, after administering 7.3 billion doses and preventing countless deaths, we have more data than ever to justify that early enthusiasm — and the need to keep jabbing.
On top of waning immunity and the lifting of restrictions, countries with persistently low vaccination rates are being hit hard by new waves of the virus. As the delta variant rears its ugly head across Europe once more, the continent is experiencing two very different pandemics. Both will need action.