The time has come for appeasement between the European Union and the manufacturers of Covid-19 vaccines. After experiencing delays, Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca laboratories announced on Monday 1 February an increase in their deliveries in Europe.
The announcements came the day after a video conference between the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and laboratory representatives with which the EU has concluded advance purchase contracts for vaccines and a few hours before a meeting in Berlin (Germany) between regional governments, the federal government and the pharmaceutical industry.
The EU campaign
For several weeks now, the Commission has been criticised for the slow pace of vaccination (see EUROPE 12647/2). Many countries have had to interrupt their campaigns due to a lack of supplies from the only three companies that have a European marketing authorisation: Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and, since 29 January, AstraZeneca.
Speaking on Monday at the Berlin meeting, European Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said that to date, 18.5 million doses of vaccine had been delivered (17.6 million from BioNTech-Pfizer and 854,000 from Moderna, Editor’s note) and more than 12 million vaccines administered.
In the future, these figures should be included in the immunisation monitoring tool, launched the same day by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), which tracks the number of doses delivered and administered [http://bit.ly/2NKsO1Z ].
“Did we buy enough doses? What I can tell you is that we bought all the doses that were available at a given date”, EU vaccine negotiator Sandra Gallina told MEPs on the parliamentary Committee on Budgets. She also denied being behind in the vaccination campaign: “We are in the lead, we have no reason to envy Israel or the United States”, she told the MEPs.
Questions from parliamentarians
In addition to Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca, the Commission has placed orders with Sanofi-GSK, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and CureVac, all of whose vaccine is not yet authorised in Europe. J&J’s vaccine should be next, even if it is, at this stage, only 66% effective for moderate to severe forms of the disease. A seventh contract, the one with Novavax, is “about to be signed”, suggested MEP Peter Liese (EPP, Germany) and an eighth, with Valneva, is also expected to be signed (see EUROPE 12635/3).
Of the money spent by the EU, commitments were 2.48 billion euros and “we made payments of 2.3 billion euros”, Mrs Gallina said. In the end, there were 2.6 billion euros in commitments and the Member States decided to supplement this sum with 750 million euros, the negotiator said. “We have already spent 373 million euros, which leaves 416 million euros to finance two additional vaccines (seven and eight)”, she said.
However, the S&D group reacted to these arguments by saying that the actions taken were not sufficient and calling for further detail, “in whatever form”. For its part, the Greens/EFA group supported the suggestion made by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, to trigger Article 122 to offset patent protection.
Manufacturers are trying to catch up
Faced with threats of legal action from Italy, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and Germany in turn, the pharmaceutical companies say they are not at fault.
The Pfizer-BioNTech alliance has committed to increase deliveries starting the week of 15 February to meet its first quarter commitments and to deliver “up to 75 million additional doses” in the second quarter of 2021. Over the full year, the group - which could receive aid from the Swiss group Novartis - is aiming for a maximum of 600 million doses, which represents half of its production in 2021.
Following the turmoil of the previous week, AstraZeneca, for its part, has committed to supply an additional 9 million doses to the EU, to reach a total of 40 million doses in the first quarter. However, this is only half an increase, since it follows a decrease announced 10 days ago by the Anglo-Swedish firm. In other words, instead of a 60% reduction in the 80 million doses in the advance purchase agreement, there will be a 50% reduction in deliveries.
The production of the vaccine developed by CureVac - which has not yet been approved at European level, but has already been pre-ordered for 405 million doses - should, for its part, be facilitated by other companies, such as Bayer.
Biological Defence Pilot Programme
Sunday’s meeting with the pharmaceutical industry also served to launch work on the biological defence programme (see EUROPE 12647/2).
This pilot project was launched in anticipation of a European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) to provide a more structured approach to pandemic preparedness.
“It was a very constructive meeting, with numerous practical suggestions”, commented Mrs von der Leyen, announcing further discussions with industry and other relevant sectors over the following weeks. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean, with Lionel Changeur)