Thread by @DaveKeating

President @vonderleyen: "We all heard the nagging questions, especially in the first month of this pandemic, 'Aren't nation states better equipped to fight this crisis? Isn't our union of 27 too slow to react?'"

"But Europe has proven these claims wrong."

"Europe has demonstrated that a union of democracies can deliver in times of crisis. For its own citizens *and* for the rest of the world.

"Under huge pressure, we Europeans stood by our values."
audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-205…

VDL: "We decided to procure vaccines together in our union. This was the right decision."

"I don't even want to imagine what it would have meant if some large member states had secured their vaccines, while the rest, all the small and medium member states, went empty handed."

EU countries going it alone "would have made no sense whatsoever with such an integrated single market. And politically it would have torn our union apart".

"Today the enormous gains delivered by our unity are obvious for everybody," says VDL.

(Latest vax speed:)

Von der Leyen: "Today it is clear that our European vaccination strategy is a success. Because what counts is not the blaring headlines in certain countries abroad [🇬🇧🇺🇸]"

"What counts is the steadily increasing daily delivery of vaccines to our people *and to the world*."

"So far about 200 million doses of vaccines have been distributed inside 🇪🇺 [half of adult population]. Neither Russia nor China come even close"

"Right now, as I speak, we are vaccinating 30 Europeans every second - 3 million per day"

Von Der Leyen says EU should reach goal of having 70% of adults vaccinated by July.

"The US has a similar goal, and this shows how much our vaccination campaigns are aligned by now."

VDL: "Some might say '🇺🇸🇬🇧 have been faster at the beginning'. But I say, 🇪🇺 achieved this success while remaining open to the world"

"While others keep their vaccine production for themselves, 🇪🇺 is the main exporter of vaccines worldwide. So far more than 200 million doses"

This means half of all vaccines produced in 🇪🇺 have been exported. All while 🇬🇧🇺🇸 exported nothing.

If the EU had similar policies to US & UK, and all those doses had remained here, it would be enough to have vaccinated the entire EU adult population by now.