The Slow Rollout of COVID-19 Vaccines
in Europe
The View of Three European Journalists
Tuesday, May 4, at 1 pm EDT / 7 pm CEST on Zoom
The European Union lags behind the United States and Great Britain in getting their population vaccinated. The percentage of the population fully vaccinated against COVID-19 is low with only 9 percent in Switzerland and 7 percent in France and Germany. (Nearly 25 percent of the U.S. population has been totally vaccinated.) Lockdowns resumed in many countries.
The rollout of the vaccine faced multiple hurdles, including delays to vaccine deliveries from AstraZeneca Plc and health concerns because of a blood clot risk. Johnson & Johnson halted deliveries of its vaccine, but reversed course April 20 after the European Medicines Agency’s Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee said the benefits outweigh the risks.
Science Writers in New York is excited to have a panel of European journalists talking about covering the vaccine rollout in their countries. Join SWINY co-chair David Levine (@dlloydlevine) in a discussion with Yves Sciama (@yvessciama), Birgit Voigt and Eva Wolfangel (@evawolfangel).
About Our Panelists
Yves Sciama, a French freelance science journalist and writer, covers life and environmental sciences. His work has appeared in Science et Vie, Le Monde, and other major French-language media, as well as in English in Science. He does documentary writing, website designing, book-writing, and has won several prizes and fellowships, including a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT in 2014. He is the current president of AJSPI, the French association of science journalists, and was co-chair of the Program Committee of the 2019 World Conference of Science Journalists.
Birgit Voigt lives in Zurich. She has been a journalist at NZZ am Sonntag for almost 20 years. Her main focus is on the health sector including the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. During the pandemic she has covered extensively the procurement of vaccines through Swiss authorities. Birgit started in journalism in the business editorial department of the “Basler Zeitung.” From 1997 to 1999, she was head of the business section of the daily paper “Tages-Anzeiger,” followed by the nine-month Knight fellowship at Stanford University in California and correspondent work from California for Cash Publications.
Eva Wolfangel, a German science journalist, was named European Science Writer of the Year by the Association of British Science Writers in 2018. As a speaker and moderator, she focuses on future technologies such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality, computer science, data journalism, interaction between digital and real worlds, and space travel. She writes for major magazines and newspapers in Germany and Switzerland, including ZEIT, Geo, Der Spiegel, and NZZ, and produces radio features. From 2019/2020 she was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT.
Have a question for Yves, Birgit, or Eva you would like answered? Submit it here!
When:
Tuesday, May 4
1 to 2 pm EDT / 7 to 8 pm CEST on Zoom
Register:
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_eC7Mm3aQQYGmThST0v1aLA