With Covid-19-related infections and deaths rapidly increasing again in the EU, hospitals under pressure, and the ‘Omicron’ variant emerging in Member States, the European Commission published its recommendations for a coordinated health response on Wednesday 1 December.
The first thing it requires from the EU27 is a commitment to a common strategy to limit the spread of the new variant, including a daily review of travel restrictions.
Member States must be prepared to put in place all necessary controls, the EU institution says. A requirement for a PCR test prior to arrival in a State could, in its view, be “a suitable means” to consider.
“We have to do everything possible to make the best out of the time we have until we have certainty about the characteristics of transmissibility and severity of Omicron”, which will take two to 3 weeks, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the press.
The European institution also calls on the EU27 to reconsider measures such as masking, social distancing and contact tracing. It also stresses the need to increase their genomic sequencing capacity and the monitoring of variants, in particular by generalising wastewater testing.
And, like the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) last week (see EUROPE 12839/9), the European Commission is especially urging Member States to continue and expand their vaccination campaigns.
As of 1 December, 70.5% of the EU adult population had received at least one dose of vaccine and 66.2% were fully vaccinated, according to data made available online by ECDC.
Booster campaigns
These vaccines are estimated to have saved the lives of 470,000 people aged 60 and over in the 33 countries of the WHO’s European Region, according to a study published last week by the ECDC and the World Health Organization’s European office.
“What science tells us already is that full vaccination and boosters provide the best protection against Covid that is available now”, said Ursula von der Leyen.
The European Commission is therefore urging the immediate implementation of booster campaigns, the urgency of which has only increased with the appearance of the ‘Omicron’ variant, it says.
And there will be no shortage of vaccines, the President stressed. Of the nearly 2 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccine due to the EU from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech for the 2022-2023 period, a total of 360 million doses will be delivered by the end of the first quarter of 2022, she added, saying this would be enough to give a booster dose to all Europeans who have already been vaccinated.
“This is good news, so go get it”, said Mrs von der Leyen.
The communication published on Wednesday also states that the EU will have a vaccine production capacity of more than 300 million doses per month by the end of the year.
A new European site for the manufacture of AstraZeneca’s vaccine was approved by the EMA on Wednesday. This site, operated by the Chinese company WuXi Biologics, is located in Leverkusen, Germany.
Mandatory vaccination in question
However, one of the “main challenges” remains persuading those who are not yet vaccinated to get the vaccine, the European Commission concludes.
Asked in the press room about the introduction of compulsory vaccination in Greece, and as the debate on the subject intensified in Germany, the European Commission President recalled that it was up to governments to take a decision on the matter.
However, she considered that under-vaccination was leading to “enormous health costs” and therefore considered it “understandable and appropriate” to open the discussion on compulsory vaccination in the EU. “This needs a common approach. It is a discussion I think that has to be led”, she added.
Regarding the vaccination of children, the President announced that she had received confirmation that Pfizer/BioNTech’s vaccine for the youngest children would be available in the EU earlier than expected, on 13 December.
According to an ECDC report also published on Wednesday, hospitalisation rates and the proportion of hospitalisations represented by cases of Covid-19 in children aged 5-11 have increased, but remain at much lower levels in children than in adults.
The ECDC believes that children aged 5-11 years at risk of severe Covid-19 should be considered a priority group for vaccination within their age group.
To consult the communication: https://bit.ly/3dpcRIp
For the ECDC report: https://bit.ly/3xHnFLd
Meeting of Health Ministers
On the EU Council side, the question of convening an extraordinary European summit to take stock of the health situation was raised.
The idea was abandoned in the end, an institutional source confirmed. The EU Health Ministers, on the other hand, will discuss the issue on Tuesday 7 December.
Among other things, they will be asked to give their opinion on the possible coordination of measures for the detection and control of the ‘Omicron’ variant, their position on the vaccination of children under 12 years of age, and a possible joint purchase of anti-Covid-19 therapeutic products.
To consult the note sent by the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU for the Health Council: https://bit.ly/3lrhupE (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)