There is no question about it, at least if you want to evaluate things objectively: the UK has handled Covid vaccine rollout well (at least so far) and the EU has dealt with it badly. For a Remainer like me, this raises a difficult question: does this prove that Brexit was a good idea after all?
Compared to the EU27, the UK has been able to act nimbly in vaccine negotiations. While Brussels has been held up by various delays and supply issues, these have not affected the UK. This is thanks in large part to the fact that its contract with AstraZeneca was signed three months before the EU vaccine deal.
The UK also took a gamble, betting on a vaccine that had not yet passed clinical trials. Yet in the context of the cost of the various restrictions brought in to curb the spread of Covid-19, this seemed like a wise move at the time, and an ever smarter one with hindsight.
If Britain has taken the initiative, the EU has adopted a more traditional, laid-back approach
It’s helpful, perhaps, to employ an analogy here: the EU appears to be like a large lorry and post-Brexit Britain a motorbike; being the smaller, more mobile vehicle has allowed Britain to act quickly, weaving in and out of traffic, while the behemoth EU has been left behind, unable to move.
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