EU chief: Bloc was late, over-confident on vaccine rollout

BRUSSELS (AP) — As the European Union surpassed the shocking toll of 500,000 people lost to the virus, the EU Commission chief said Wednesday that the bloc’s much-criticized vaccine rollout could be partly blamed on the EU being over-optimistic, over-confident and plainly “too late.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen defended the EU’s overall approach to beat the pandemic with all 27 nations together, even if she admitted to mistakes in the strategy to quickly obtain sufficient vaccines for its 450 million citizens.