jab, raising fears of a vaccine export war.

Here are five takeaways about what has happened in Europe

and what the future may hold.

All options are on the table.

We are in the crisis of the century.

The wave of suspensions by EU countries

of their Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine immunisation drives

over safety fears is the latest blow in a troubled relationship

with the company.

Regulators have reviewed reports of dangerous blood clots

in some people who've had the vaccine,

but so far have said that there's nothing

unduly to worry about.

The difficulties come after repeated AstraZeneca delivery

shortfalls on a contract the EU had

made the centrepiece of its Covid-19 inoculation drive.

Initially, the European bloc had expected

to receive 300m doses of the jab by the end of June,

but now it looks like it's in line to get no more than about

a third of that.

The EU's short to medium-term supply worries

go beyond the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The bloc signed its contract for the pioneering BioNTech-Pfizer

mRNA vaccine months after the UK and the US

did, although the EU has since doubled

its original 300m-dose order.

The EU has also been scrambling to ensure

that it can do the so-called fill

and finish on the single-dose Johnson & Johnson

vaccine on European territory.

At some point, the EU's bulging portfolio,

more than $2bn vaccine doses, will leave it with a glut.

But that's not going to come for a while yet.

The EU vaccine joint procurement scheme

that the European Commission runs with member states

has drawn plenty of fire.

Critics say it didn't bet big enough, boldly enough, or early

enough on the leading vaccines, unlike the US and UK.

The EU put up less money up front

on developing new vaccines and building manufacturing

capacity, some analysts say.

European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen

denies that the EU was too slow, too reluctant to spend,

and says the bloc's main problems have

been in managing expectations.

These problems have been compounded

by member state actions.

Some have failed to use the vaccines that

have been delivered.

Others have held back doses for second shots,

even though a growing body of evidence

suggests it's better to give one shot to as many people as

possible.

A group of nations restricted the use of the AstraZeneca

vaccine in older people, contrary to the European

Medicines Agency which said it was good for use

with all adults.

And now some of that group reversed their position

and fallen in line with the agency.

We in this country don't believe in blockades.

We're all fighting the same pandemic.

Many EU states still express confidence

in the bloc's joint vaccine procurement scheme.

That's particularly true for smaller countries who

would otherwise struggle in the international scramble

among rich countries for vaccines.

But at the same time, a number of countries are hedging

their bets and making arrangements outside

of the programme.

Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic

have all either bought, or are eyeing,

Russian and Chinese vaccines that have yet

to be approved by the EU.

At the same time, the EU has introduced new rules

to curb the export of vaccines beyond its borders.

It's a sign of likely disputes to come as countries grapple

to keep production on their own soil for their own use in this

and future pandemics.

There's been a lot of debate about

whether Brexit helped the UK achieve a faster vaccine

rollout.

The answer isn't straightforward.

It's true, London could technically

have done all the deals and the fast track regulatory approvals

it has managed while it was still in the EU,

but it's also true that it would have been

under political pressure to stay in line

with the joint bloc vaccine procurement scheme,

if it had joined at all.

A final lesson of the pandemic is

that national fortunes can change, and fast.

The UK's vaccine rollout is riding high at the moment,

but the EU's relative scarcity will soon turn into a surfeit.

And at that point, questions will be asked even more

pointedly about how rich countries

are going to ensure fair distribution to the multitudes

of people around the world for whom immunisation still

remains a distant dream.