Europe is back in recession. It's not just the virus. Today's best articles Daily business briefing Solving COVID newsletter Europe is in the unaccustomed position of being roundly whipped by the United States at a public health effort. Thanks apparently to bureaucratic disasters and widespread anti-vaccine paranoia, the coronavirus vaccine rollout there is going much more slowly than here â the share of Americans with at least one vaccine shot is 60 percent greater than in Germany, and twice the figure in France (admittedly contrary to my own expectations). As a result, many E.U. countries have been forced back into partial lockdowns, and the region's economy is suffering. Whereas America saw powerful economic growth in the first quarter of this year, the E.U. actually shrank slightly and is now technically in recession once more.