MEPs held a debate, on Thursday 6 October, on the lessons of Covid-19 following an oral question to the European Commission by Kathleen Van Brempt (S&D, Belgian) on behalf of the Special Committee on the Covid-19 pandemic and by Pascal Canfin (Renew Europe, French). The oral question contained four points relating to the distribution and production chain of vaccines and the involvement of HERA, support for national health systems to deal with a new wave of Covid-19, the fight against disinformation and a ‘One Health’ approach to pathogens.
Stelios Kympouropoulos (EPP, Greek) questioned the Commission, notably on how to respond to the specific needs of Member States or how to ensure continuity of care, especially for the most vulnerable groups.
Véronique Trillet-Lenoir (Renew Europe, French) welcomed the vote on the first EU health texts (see EUROPE 13035/6), but said that it was the duty of the Covid-19 Committee, the European Commission and the EU Council “to ensure that the provisions of this regulation are rapidly and fully implemented”. Ms Trillet-Lenoir called for joint efforts to rapidly implement the future international treaty on the prevention of pandemics.
Joanna Kopcińska (ECR, Polish) highlighted the need for a new modus operandi in the coming months and raised the question of the evaluation of the Commission’s actions in the coming months and the role of the new HERA authority in this assessment.
Max Orville (Renew Europe, French) underlined the reluctance of part of the European population to vaccinate and called on the Commission to put in place “a really effective European awareness campaign” a “strategy of informed choice for the citizen to fight against disinformation, which still too often rhymes with non-vaccination”.
Sara Cerdas (S&D, Portuguese) also raised this point, while stressing the positive aspects of coordinated work at European level.
Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski told MEPs that, based on the lessons drawn from the pandemic, the Commission had been able to propose legislation, structures and prevention capacities and was investing in research and innovation and in preparedness following the shortcomings identified. “We are also looking at a mapping of innovative health technology and biotechnology solutions for innovative solutions to this type of pandemic”, he said. The Commissioner added: “From the beginning, we have asked vaccine developers to accept full publication of vaccine purchase contracts and to facilitate access to them for Members of the European Parliament”. He said the Commission was working closely with MEPs to prepare a response to the request from the Special Committee on the Covid-19 pandemic for access to European Commission documents.
Link to question: https://aeur.eu/f/3gn (Original version in French by Emilie Vanderhulst)