EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides met with MEPs at the first meeting of the special committee tasked with learning from the EU’s response to Covid-19 and made several concrete announcements.
She gave them an overview of the European structural weaknesses that emerged at the beginning of the pandemic. Lack of preparedness and coordination by Member States, lack of investment in health system resilience, limited domestic management, etc. Member States experienced obstacles in acquiring equipment in then-tight markets. For Mrs Kyriakides, this has meant an impact on the single market and pressure on citizens.
The Commissioner recalled the key elements of the European response to the crisis: the vaccine strategy initiated in June 2020, the priority “green lanes”, the European Covid digital certificate, the launch of the EU4Health programme, the European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority, the strengthening of the mandate of the EMA and the ECDC, etc.
She spoke to MEPs about many issues: biodiversity loss, mental health - a priority for EU4Health - and expressed awareness of the impact of Covid-19, especially for young people. Several initiatives have been launched.
The Commissioner announced that an expert panel on Covid-19 had been set up to look at the issue of long Covid. A report will be published at the end of the year, which was welcomed by Véronique Trillet-Lenoir (Renew Europe, France), along with whom the Commissioner mentioned the initiatives concerning non-communicable diseases.
With Sara Cerdas (S&D, Portugal) calling for a gender-sensitive approach, Mrs Kyriakides highlighted the publication of the CARE communication in September, which will integrate this issue.
Responding to Tomislav Sokol (EPP, Croatia), she said the European Commission was working to learn from the vaccine strategy and the group purchases of equipment and medicines to facilitate citizens’ access to other types of medicines, including innovative treatments, in the future. The European Pharmaceutical Strategy is to be unveiled at the end of 2022.
Asked about the transparency of vaccine contracts, Mrs Kyriakides said that the European Commission had sought maximum transparency, albeit limited by contractual obligations of confidentiality. According to the Commissioner, if the European Commission had not agreed to these confidentiality obligations in the context of tight markets, the EU would have experienced difficulties in accessing vaccines.
Responding to Michèle Rivasi (Greens/EFA, France), the Commissioner recalled that Member States had not been forced to purchase vaccines, and that they were all represented in the steering board and involved in the vaccine negotiations.
Stella Kyriakides spoke of discussions with Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna to manage surplus Covid-19 vaccines while ensuring that Member States have sufficient doses in case of a new epidemic wave this year or in early 2023.
An agreement has already been reached with Pfizer-BioNTech to reschedule the delivery of vaccines towards the end of the third and fourth quarter of 2022. These deliveries could include vaccines tailored to new variants of concern, if available and licenced. Contacts have been established to ensure maximum flexibility of deliveries in 2023 and 2024, taking into account the absorption capacity of Member States.
On global health, the Commissioner recalled the close link with the WHO, but called for a WHO with the potential to meet challenges. The challenge for the EU has shifted from the issue of vaccine supply to supporting third countries in absorbing vaccines.
Finally, Kathleen Van Brempt (S&D, Belgium), chair of the special committee, announced the appointment of Dolors Montserrat (EPP, Spain) as rapporteur. Mrs Van Brempt requested an exchange of views with the parliamentary committees whose competences are close to the new special committee.
Some political groups do not yet have a designated coordinator.
The work programme has yet to be finalised, but Commissioners Thierry Breton and Paolo Gentiloni are expected to be invited by the special committee before the summer break. (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)