The European Commission translates words into action. According to the minutes of a recent meeting of the Health Security Committee (HSC) published on 29 July, having warned states about a second outbreak of Covid-19 that might occur at the same time as seasonal flu, the European Commission is now trying to organise stocks and will not be excluding further joint procurement.
This was the main message in the document issued by the Commission on the subject of a second wave of infections: the burden of seasonal influenza must be reduced to avoid a “cocktail of risks” (see EUROPE 12528/5).
At the meeting of the Health Security Committee on 21 July, the Commission stated that it had approached vaccine manufacturers to find out whether additional doses of seasonal influenza vaccines were available.
It also warned Member States about the risk of shortages of accompanying materials, pointing out that “once Covid-19 vaccines have been developed, it will be possible to deliver them without syringes or other items (i.e. delivered in multi-dose vials), and there might be shortages of these items”.
Member States were therefore invited to report on their state of preparedness regarding the availability of equipment of this kind (e.g. syringes, alcohol, wipes, etc.) and to take a position on whether group purchasing would be appropriate. According to the minutes, the Netherlands and Italy have already expressed their willingness to participate.
Joint procurement
The European Commission has so far initiated five joint procurements via public procurement contracts, with more than 20 countries participating on each occasion (of the 37 countries to have signed the framework agreement establishing this mechanism, which enables the countries involved to benefit from economies of scale when dealing with manufacturers).
Twenty countries (out of thirty-seven) participated in the first bulk purchase of gloves and suits, at an overall maximum cost of €97 million.
Twenty-five countries then participated in the second bulk purchase from five companies, which cost up to €1.4 billion and enabled them to obtain eye and respiratory protection devices (i.e. 20 million pairs of goggles, 12 million face shields, 37 million FFP2 face masks, 26 million FFP3s, and 301 million masks).
Twenty-six countries were involved in the joint procurement of respirators (110,000 units, only half of which have the CE marking), costing up to €1.4 billion.
And lastly, twenty countries are participating in the joint procurement of laboratory equipment (29 different consignments) from nine companies, at a cost of €350 million.
In the minutes of the HSC meeting, the Commission states that the fifth joint public procurement is well under way, as it has received “tenders” for intensive care medicines. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)