Could the European Union intervene on behalf of the Member States to secure access to future potential Covid-19 pandemic vaccines? According to the Reuters and Bloomberg news agencies, the idea was discussed on Wednesday 3 June by the ambassadors of the Member States.
It is expected to be discussed next week by health ministers at their weekly video conference.
According to Bloomberg, the EU-27 discussed - without taking a decision - the possibility of granting a mandate to the European Commission to participate in pharmaceutical companies’ research in exchange for preferential access to doses.
According to Reuters, the ambassadors have even raised the idea of using an emergency fund of 2.4 billion euros to make advance purchases and increasing vaccine production capacity in Europe through the Emergency Support Instrument.
In this way, they intend to emulate the US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, which “funds various projects before they even work, in the hope of having two or three successful candidates that will allow for rapid distribution among US citizens”, says the working paper cited by Bloomberg. For example, the United States has already pledged up to $1.2 billion to AstraZeneca Plc for the manufacture of a vaccine currently being tested by Oxford University.
Earlier, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands announced that they would join forces to negotiate jointly with coronavirus vaccine developers and potential producers. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)