As it had been hinting for several days, on Wednesday 11 November, the European Commission officially pledged to purchase at least 200 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 candidate vaccine. The following day, it also promised limited access to the contents of contracts negotiated with the pharmaceutical industry.
The European Commission also announced the publication of guidance on antigenic testing “next week”.
Lack of transparency of agreements criticised
During a debate in the European Parliament, Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said that, for reasons of commercial confidentiality, she could not disclose the content of contracts negotiated with the pharmaceutical industry (AstraZeneca, Sanofi, Johnson&Johnson and, in the next few days, Pfizer-BioNTech).
However, at the insistence of MEPs, she said she was, “within the contractual constraints, ready to explore making information about the contracts available to nominated members of the Parliament with specific arrangements once the sensitive ongoing negotiations are concluded”.
During the debate, several MEPs, including Jytte Guteland (S&D, Sweden), requested information relating to “production costs and prices, the place of production, access to the vaccine and liability for potential damage caused by the vaccine”.
Vaccination: how far along are preparations?
The European Commission has already presented two vaccination strategies: the first, in June, launched the European Advance Purchase Procedure on behalf of the Member States and the second identified the key steps that the EU-27 need to put in place before a vaccine reaches the market (see EUROPE 12582/7 and 12508/4).
In response, the Member States are expected to publish their national vaccination strategies. At this stage, however, only 21 Member States have done so. When she presented her European Health Union package (see other news), Kyriakides said that she had already contacted Member States on several occasions. She said that the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control would report back on these strategies once they were made available. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)