Crucial end to the week for health issues. On Wednesday 11 November, the European Commission will present its proposals intended to strengthen the EU's preparedness and response to cross-border health crises. The following day, the European Parliament will discuss the issue of Covid-19 vaccines and the EU4Health future health programme.
New European Commission proposals. The package on cross-border health threats will consist of a general communication, a proposal for a regulation on serious cross-border health threats and proposals to strengthen the mandate of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) (see EUROPE 12592/5).
Covid-19 vaccines. The debate in the European Parliament on vaccines will address the transparency of advance purchase agreements that the European Commission has made with vaccine manufacturers. At this stage, the European Commission has concluded agreements with AstraZeneca, Johnson&Johnson and Sanofi-GSK for €1.02 billion, with a fourth agreement that is expected to be concluded over the coming days with Pfizer-BioNTech (see other news).
EU4Health. MEPs will also vote on the 2021–2027 EU4Health programme, allowing negotiations to start with the EU Council (see EUROPE 12586/2). They will vote on 12 November on some 250 amendments to the report that was prepared by Cristian-Silviu Bușoi (EPP, Romania) and will then vote on the following day on the final report (see EUROPE 12580/7).
It should be noted that the agreement that was narrowly reached between the three institutions on Tuesday 10 November, will provide for €3.4 billion more than the EU Council's proposal made in July 2020 (see other news). (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)