The EU, which has 67% of its population vaccinated against Covid-19 and is experiencing a wave of infections with the Omicron variant, intends to give itself the means to reach the G20 and WHO objective of vaccinating 70% of the world’s population by mid-2022, with Africa in line of sight, which is 7% vaccinated.
“Next year, 3.6 billion doses will be produced in Europe, compared to 3 billion this year. This is far more than is required to administer recalls in Europe. We have enough doses to do the recalls in Europe and to donate”, senior Commission officials told a press conference on Wednesday 8 December.
Production capacity is being ramped up to 300 million vaccines produced in Europe per month. The idea is to reach more than 20 billion doses next year, all producers combined, they said, referring also to increased production capacity in Russia (15 million doses) and China (12 million).
“EU Member States have shared more than 350 million doses to give to countries around the world. The vast majority, about 300 million doses, were shared via Covax”, said Ursula von der Leyen on 6 December in a video message.
Officials said that of the 353.4 million doses shared so far, 118 million have been delivered, of which 72.7 million were via Covax and 45 million were donated by Member States bilaterally.
353.4 million doses “is far more than the original target of 250 million doses by the end of the year”, these officials noted. A further commitment was announced in late November to deliver at least 700 million doses via Covax by mid-2022 (see EUROPE 12843/3).
Among the obstacles delaying deliveries, a senior official cited - the fact that Covax must first identify countries ready to receive, with sufficient storage capacity; - the difficult conditions in some war-torn countries, such as Ethiopia, where “the EU is the biggest donor”; - the lack of regulatory approval in place: “the EU had decided to give Moderna, but in some countries Moderna has not yet been approved ”.
The administration of this vaccine is suspended in the Scandinavian countries for those under 30 years of age and, until further notice, in Iceland.
“It may take two months from donation to delivery”, the same source said, arguing that an increase in immunisation rates in Africa should not be expected by the 17-18 February AU/EU summit (see EUROPE 12843/8), but much later.
“70% of the world’s population by September 2022: we continue to hold out hope that this is possible. The major challenge is Africa. Without Africa, we will fall short of the 70%”, added a colleague, referring to the UN target. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)