In Athens, a COVID-19 vaccine will help get you into a bar. In Prague, it might win you an iPhone. But in some places, you’ll need it to keep your job.
As governments across Europe push to get everyday life back to normal, the carrot-and-stick approach to inoculations is shifting more to the latter. In France, President Emmanuel Macron pledged a "summer of mobilizing for vaccinations,” with compulsory shots for health care workers. Italy, Greece and the U.K. are going down the same road, moving toward making vaccinations a requirement for some.
After months of strife earlier this year over a limited supply of vaccines, European Union leaders now face the opposite problem: plenty of doses, and signs of a slowdown in demand to get them.