Europe’s economy falls back into recession

Europe’s economy has fallen back into recession as the 19 countries that use the euro currently struggle to get their coronavirus cases under control, with vaccination efforts moving more slowly than in the United States and Great Britain.

The economy in those 19 European countries fell 0.6 percent the first three months of 2021, The Associated Press reported.

The drop occurred from January until the end of March, so numbers could have improved since the data was released, but it was the second straight quarter that Europe saw a decline in its economy, the AP reported. Europe’s unemployment rate also increased slightly in March to 8.1 percent.

Europe mostly saw a decline in its economy due to its slow vaccine rollout, as the countries have been struggling to handle coronavirus cases.

The slow vaccine rollout coupled with lockdowns in many countries have stifled its economy and prevented them from experiencing an economic rebound that China and the United States are seeing.

Economists are hopeful that Europe’s vaccine rollout will improve after the lifting of pauses for the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. Those vaccines were briefly paused amid concerns about blood clots related to the vaccines.

An EU official said they will also allow tourism from the U.S. again this summer if an individual is fully vaccinated, which would help countries that have been struggling economically since the pandemic all but ended global tourism.