The EU Failed the World’s Easiest Cost-Benefit Test

From early on in the crisis I was telling governments, “this is the world’s easiest cost-benefit test” because:

The EU response:

However, the EU approach came with strings. The commission, negotiating for the first time on vital medicines, felt that EU countries would demand value for money, so it dragged out the talks to secure better prices and product liability guarantees. That meant it signed the contracts with AstraZeneca in August, three months after the UK’s contract.

Hat tip: Arthur Baker.

Addendum: On the plus side the EU has authorized the AstraZeneca vaccine. The United States should immediately do the same. Get the Baltimore factory running.