The FDA has yet to approve AstraZeneca's vaccine while the EU approved it back in January. The US has a stockpile of 40million doses which are not being used until approval arrives while European vaccination rates are limited by vaccine supply.
I agree with that. However, Martin Selmayr (Secretary-General of the European Commission) recently explained on TV that the slower approval was the reason that the EU is lagging behind the US in vaccations. Well, obviously that slower approval was for "more safety" according to him.
That explanation doesn't make a whole lot of sense since the delay was only a few weeks for Biontech/Pfizer or Moderna. As you mentioned, AZ is not even approved in the US. Europe would need to vaccinate around 50M people in a few weeks.
EU politicans know that the EU has failed at procurement. They now try to cover that up by blaming AZ and explaining delays with additional safety measures.
Oh right, that's true. Sorry. He is now still a European civil servant though. In my defense, I quickly googled his name and that's what popped out first. On TV was announced as "spokesperson of the European Commission", so I thought that was his official job title.
The US should allow AstraZeneca to be used on volunteers in other nations, as long as it's not under coercion. The possible blot-clot issue is small, if any. Thus, volunteers is a decent compromise, rather than let it sit in storage.
Approval speed has nothing to do with it.