Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands announced on Saturday 13 June that they had signed an agreement with the pharmaceutical group AstraZeneca to guarantee the supply of 300 million doses of a possible coronavirus vaccine to the EU. While the European Commission seemed to welcome such an agreement, Belgium described it as “unreasonable”.
The announcement was officially made over the weekend by the German government, which is leading this group of four countries in Europe’s Inclusive Vaccines Alliance (IVA). The agreement with AstraZeneca provides for the supply of all EU member countries as soon as a vaccine against Covid-19 is discovered.
The pharmaceutical company said in a press release that it has signed “similar agreements” for 700 million doses with the UK, the US and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Gavi and Cepi and has agreed a licence with the Serum Institute of India for the supply of an additional 1 billion doses, mainly for low- and middle-income countries. The United States would be prepared to pay up to $1.2 billion for one third of the first billion doses developed by AstraZeneca.
“Unreasonable”, says Belgian Health Minister
The “rapid and coordinated action by a group of Member States” will benefit “all EU citizens”, German Health Minister Jens Spahn was pleased to note, while the pharmaceutical group indicated in a separate press release that the number of doses could even reach a maximum of 400,000. The same optimistic tone was heard from the European Commission, which last week proposed to Member States to join forces with pharmaceutical companies through advance purchase agreements (see EUROPE 12505/1). “The joint action of the four Member States illustrates the benefits of working together and pooling resources between countries to accelerate vaccine development and ensure access”, commented a Commission spokesperson. Another spokesperson added that “the two initiatives are intimately linked and complementary”.
For her part, the Belgian Minister of Public Health, Maggie De Block, considered the agreement reached by the four countries “unreasonable”. “By doing so, you weaken everyone: both the Commission’s overall initiative and your own position”, Ms De Block reacted.
It should be noted that the four countries were also discussing possible cooperation with Great Britain, Norway, Singapore and Japan. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)