The informal lunch of the ‘Health’ session of the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council on Tuesday 14 June was devoted to the Covid-19 vaccination strategy.
Commissioner Stella Kyriakides made several announcements. For example, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) have been asked to update their recommendations on additional vaccine doses. The Commissioner urged ministers to push forward with national vaccination campaigns. She added that work on a vaccine adapted to the new variants of Covid-19 was underway.
The Polish delegation presented a joint letter to the Commission in the early afternoon on behalf of the Bulgarian, Croatian, Estonian, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Romanian, Slovak and Slovenian delegations. The delegations want more flexibility in deliveries, an amendment of advance purchase contracts, a minimum validity period from the date of delivery and a mechanism at HERA level to resell vaccines globally and create a common European stock.
Kyriakides said she understood the delegations’ concerns. However, she stressed that contracts cannot be changed unilaterally. She added that the work was being carried out together with and on behalf of the Member States. Initial agreements have been reached with vaccine manufacturers. For the Commissioner, these agreements have three advantages: - (1) they allow the supply of doses to be aligned with needs and this should reduce the number of doses disposed of because of their expiry date; - (2) they should ensure rapid access to sufficient vaccines in the event of a deterioration in the epidemiological situation this autumn or winter - excess doses may be needed in this case; - (3) by postponing some deliveries of Covid-19 vaccine, the EU would have a greater chance of receiving doses of vaccine adapted to the new variants of concern.
Kyriakides added that the European Commission would continue to require more flexibility from Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers and was working on adapting the distribution of doses beyond 2022 by spreading them over a longer period.
Finally, the Commissioner called for good faith negotiations and unity among Member States, which has so far enabled the EU to carry weight in negotiations with vaccine companies.
Link to the joint letter: https://aeur.eu/f/23x (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)