Merkel is all topsy-turvy over Oxford vaccine

I don't think Angela Merkel knows whether she is coming or going. She's all over the place with the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccination programme. First she took fright when it was suggested there had been insufficient data checks on the over-65s during the trials and so she banned any German over 65 from getting the Oxford jab, including herself. Then there were all those reports/rumours/scares about a tiny number of people suffering blood clots after getting the Oxford jab, some of them fatal. So she suspended the jabs, along with most of Europe. But the EU regulators said the blood clots were not linked to the vaccine itsef, and so she, as well as her European counterparts, reversed that suspension. Now, for heaven's sake, she has banned giving the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine to anyone UNDER 60 because of more scare stories about it causing blood clots among younger people. The EU regulators are still saying this is nonsense. But Merkel is suffering so much from political wobbles that she can't make up her mind which way to turn. Meanwhile, millions of German nationals are being prevented from getting the Oxford vaccine which is cheaper and easier to deliver than any of the others. Instead she has started talks with the Russians to buy their Sputnik vaccine. What a farce. All she has to do is listen to the experts who say the Oxford vaccine is fine and effective. But she is panicking, never a good sign for a politician, let alone the leader of the country. Throughout her long reign as Chancellor, she has been a stalwart, strong, resolute leader and Germany has thrived under her leadership. So has the European Union. But her stewardship of Germany's vaccination programme has been hesitant at best and incomprehensible at worst. Whether she has taken against the "British" vaccine for political reasons, we don't know but there's a good argument to be made that her disapproval of Britan's exit from the EU is playing a part in her opposition to the vaccine. It's a sad way to end her otherwise distinguished chancellorship.