On Tuesday 12 October, the EU Health Ministers will meet in Ljubljana, at the initiative of the Slovenian Presidency of the EU Council and in the presence of the Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides.
This informal meeting, which will start at 8.30 a.m. and end in the late afternoon, will take place in three stages.
The ministers will first discuss common solutions that can be implemented to increase the availability of medicines and to improve Europeans’ preparedness for cross-border health threats.
They are expected to be surveyed on topics such as the development of common infrastructures for the manufacture of medicines, cooperation in the fight against drug shortages and the new EU Health Emergency Response Authority, HERA (see EUROPE 12792/24).
The second part of the exchange will be devoted to the investments and cooperation needed to strengthen European health systems. Ministers will be invited to discuss “innovative solutions” that can be deployed in this regard.
The third and final round of discussions will focus on the challenges faced in the area of Covid-19 vaccination.
Although more than 74% of adults have already been fully vaccinated in the EU, some countries are still lagging far behind (see EUROPE 12798/6) and mistrust of vaccines persists throughout the Union.
According to our information, this exchange is also expected to be an opportunity to take stock of national policies concerning the use of a third dose or a booster dose (see EUROPE 12805/8).
We can also expect to hear about the EU’s delay in fulfilling its pledge to donate vaccines to third countries (see EUROPE 12791/1).
The EU, its financial institutions and its Member States(‘Team Europe’) have committed to deliver 200 million doses by the end of the year through the Covax solidarity mechanism. According to the latest data from the WHO, WTO and the International Monetary Fund, only 25.3 million doses had been delivered by the end of September. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)