As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the Republic of Croatia is one of the biggest losers when it comes to the distribution of vaccines within the European Union, ie it is one of the countries that are most deprived of the delivered doses of vaccines in relation to the number of inhabitants, with only Latvia and Bulgaria being worse off than us.
The calculations of well-informed EU officials, who for obvious reasons wished to remain anonymous, show that Croatia would be deprived of almost 150,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine in such a distribution, and the real result of that deep inequality will be seen only in the second quarter, Vecernji list reported. At the same time, some countries are profiting greatly from these strange calculations of doses and arrangements within the Vaccination Steering Committee, a body set up by the European Commission (EC) to help them.
Although EU member states have agreed that the distribution of vaccines is key, in terms of population, which is only fair and correct, the data shows that this principle is not being respected in reality. Croatia, whose population accounts for 0.91 percent of the EU’s total population, had received 394,170 doses by March the 9th, which represents a negative trend even at that early stage of the EU vaccine share/rollout.
The delivery rate for each EU country in relation to the number of inhabitants shows that Croatia would be in the red by as much as 27 percent, which – translated into a vaccine – would mean 148,522 doses less than it deserves, according to data collected by EU officials which Vecernji was privy to.
The worst of all is Latvia with a negative rate of 62 percent and a deficit of 158,946 doses, Bulgaria with a minus of 59 percent and less than 545,281 doses, followed by Croatia. At the top of the scale in terms of the EU vaccine share, among the winners, is Malta, which is in the ¨plus¨ with an enviable rate of 155 percent, Germany with 11 percent and Denmark with 10 percent.
The problem of unequal treatment and deviation from the agreement was warned of recently by no less than Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who pointed a finger directly at the Vaccine Steering Committee, boldly and openly calling it “a bazaar where vaccines are traded.”
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