European leaders failed to see that Covid-19 vaccines would be developed as soon as they were and this was why rollouts in the EU now lagged behind some other countries, Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday, reports The Telegraph.
"Everybody, all the experts said: Never in the history of mankind was a vaccine developed in less than a year," the French president told Greek television channel ERT.
In a rare admission of failure, Mr Macron said: "We didn't shoot for the stars. That should be a lesson for all of us.
"We were wrong to lack ambition, to lack the madness, I would say, to say: It's possible, let's do it."
European Union leaders are struggling to speed up vaccinations, trailing countries such as Britain and the United States and facing supply delays.