Von der Leyen: EU over-optimistic, over-confident and late on vaccine rollout

The European Commission chief has admitted mistakes were made in the strategy to quickly obtain sufficient vaccines for 447 million EU citizens

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a debate on the united EU approach to Covid-19 vaccinations at the European Parliament in Brussels. Picture: Johanna Geron, Pool via AP

The European Union’s much-criticised vaccine rollout could partly be blamed on the bloc being over-optimistic, over-confident and plainly “late”, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has said.

The commission chief defended the EU’s overall approach of trying to beat the pandemic with a unified vaccine plan for its 27 nations, even as she admitted mistakes in the strategy to quickly obtain sufficient vaccines for its 447 million citizens.