European countries policy responses against SARS-Cov-2 in the context of vaccinations

Abstract

Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) are essential tools for containing or mitigating the spread of a novel virus until vaccination becomes available. Given their well-known side effects, NPIs should be employed only as long as necessary and largely replaced by population immunity through vaccination. During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, countries adopted various strategies for implementing NPIs and administering vaccinations. While differences in NPIs and vaccination strategies among countries have been descriptively illustrated, they have not yet been quantified. This study aims to quantitatively analyze the differences in NPIs across 10 European countries immediately after vaccinations became available