As European leaders continue to tussle with vaccine makers over supply problems, the tangible effects of a vaccine shortfall are playing out on the streets of Brussels, as the city struggles to get vaccines in people's arms.    

The first vaccination center opened in early February inside a former bank cafeteria. It has the capacity to administer 900 shots a day, but a shortage of doses means it's carrying out far fewer inoculations. 

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"At this moment, only 150 or 200 a day, because we only have this available in the volume of vaccines. This is really the factor that is limiting the whole process," said Inge Neven, Brussels' COVID-19 crisis manager.  

Nearly half of the vaccination rooms sit idle. And things aren't expected to significantly improve in the coming weeks. Moderna, which creates the jab on which the center relies on the most, has already slashed February deliveries by 20 percent. And the Belgian government decided the newly approved AstraZeneca shot won't be used for people over 55 years old.  

The few who do manage to get an appointment are health workers who do not work in a hospital setting. Manu Courieult, a midwife, said she jumped at the opportunity to be immunized.  

"I often go into people's homes, so I'm pretty close to them and have physical contact. I work a lot with infants and therefore pregnant women who are not necessarily at risk. But infants – not too much is known – so I prefer to take precautions," she said after receiving the jab.   
 

Europe's vaccination strategy under fire 

The EU's vaccine procurement process was spearheaded by the European Commission, which struck deals with six different vaccine makers for a total of 2.3 billion doses. Member states choose which vaccines they want to use and then pay the purchase price. The jabs are then allocated based on the size of the population.  

But in the past weeks, Brussels has come under intense fire for its vaccination strategy as immunizations lag far behind the U.S. and the UK.  

It's particularly challenging for a country like Belgium, which has had one of the highest COVID-19 infection and death rates in the world. The coronavirus has now claimed more than 21,500 lives and hopes of exiting the deadly pandemic are pinned on immunization.  

Agrim Desfontaenes, one of the medical professionals administering the jab, knows all too well the toll the disease can take – having treated COVID-19 patients during the first wave. 

"I saw things I never expected to see," he said. "We were there and we could not help the patients that we had just laid on the bed."  

Despite months of delivery shortfalls, Belgium's vaccination rate is above the European average. Nearly 3 percent of the population has received at least one dose of a vaccine. The bulk of the shots were administered in hospitals and care homes. Mass vaccination will depend on public facilities. 

The plan is to open nine more vaccination centers across the capital Brussels, but most openings are delayed due to the lack of vaccines. The Heysel site near the famous Atomium is meant to open on Monday, a fortnight behind schedule. It will be the biggest vaccination site in Belgium, capable of inoculating 5,000 people a day. But the shortfall in vaccine supply has trimmed that down to 1,000.  

"Everybody's asking for these vaccines. They also have to scale up very rapidly," said Neven. "We're trying to negotiate."