For many it may sound almost provocative how laconically Angela Merkel has been defending the European Union's (EU) vaccination strategy, which has been heavily controversial for weeks.

"Well, everything really didn't go wrong," said Merkel in a video discussion of the conservative EPP group in the EU Parliament, to which the CDU also belongs.

"Mistakes have certainly been made here and there, and you learn that this is also a new field".

However, the decision to purchase the vaccine from Brussels was "absolutely correct," she added. The fact is: The EU is still far behind countries like the USA, Great Britain and Israel when it comes to vaccination. These are making great strides towards herd immunity. And Europe? Europe is catching up. And huge. This is especially true for Germany.