Brussels, 10/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 10 April, the Commission approved a Joint Procurement Agreement, which will enable all EU countries to procure pandemic vaccines and other medical countermeasures as a group, rather than individually. This decision came after reflecting on the lessons learned from the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, which highlighted weaknesses in the mechanisms in place in EU countries for procuring vaccines and medications.
Joint procurement enables member states to ensure that pandemic vaccines and medicines are available in sufficient quantities and at the right price should a cross border health threat emerge. The mechanism will benefit all EU countries, in particular those which encountered difficulties in purchasing vaccines developed for the H1N1 pandemic in 2009. 27 EU countries have declared their intention to sign the agreement. The Joint Procurement Agreement is voluntary, and will enter into force two weeks after it has been signed by a third of participating member states (10 countries) and the Commission. European Commissioner for Health Tonio Borg called on “all member states to sign the Joint Procurement Agreement as soon as possible so that we can proceed to the first procurement of pandemic vaccines”.
The potential of the Joint Procurement Agreement reaches beyond vaccines for pandemics. Member states could benefit from extending the agreement to cover the purchase of medical countermeasures for other infectious diseases, such as botulism, anthrax, hepatitis B or polio. Signing the Joint Procurement Agreement does not imply any immediate financial commitment for member states. A financial commitment will only be necessary when they sign contracts following procurement procedures launched on the basis of the Agreement.
The first meeting of the Joint Procurement Agreement Steering Committee will be convened once one third of EU countries have ratified the Agreement. At this meeting member states will decide on which medical countermeasures they want to purchase jointly. (LC)