The European Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides, was the guest on Monday 27 March at the European Parliament’s special committee set up to learn lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic (COVI). In particular, she responded to MEPs’ dissatisfaction with the postponement of the proposal for revised pharmaceutical legislation (see EUROPE 13148/18).
Understanding the Parliament’s interest, Ms Kyriakides said that this was not the first time a proposal had been postponed. According to her, “the proposal was not ready, it is an extremely complicated package” as the Commission seeks to strike the right balance between patients’ rights, consumers’ rights and innovation.
Ms Kyriakides also provided assurances that the EU institution hears the calls from citizens for more transparency, especially in the area of public funding of research and development. This issue is being examined in the context of the new proposal to reform pharmaceutical legislation, she said.
Subcommittee chair Kathleen Van Brempt (S&D, Belgian) echoed MEPs’ demands for access, in a secure reading room if necessary, to Covid-19 vaccine purchase contracts and unredacted contract negotiation documents in the coming months.
According to Ms Kyriakides, a reply to the letter from European Parliament President Roberta Metsola to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is currently being examined by the Commission’s legal service.
The EU Commissioner also said that Ms von der Leyen had not been involved in the negotiation of any contract for the purchase of Covid-19 vaccines. All negotiations followed the same process, she argued: the negotiations were conducted by a joint negotiating team comprising representatives of the Commission and six Member States. And the latter reported regularly to the Steering Group (comprising all Member States and providing the mandate to the negotiating team). All Member States were therefore fully aware of the terms and conditions of the contracts and were able to opt out of a contract.
“We are in contact in order to enable access to the unredacted versions of the contracts in line with our inter institutional arrangements and with our contractual agreements”, Ms Kyriakides added.
The Commissioner also pointed out that the amounts of the contracts had been communicated to the Committee on Budgetary Control and that the unredacted contracts had been made available to the Vaccine Contact Group in a secure reading room.
Véronique Trillet-Lenoir (Renew Europe, French) also expressed her wish to see this contact group reactivated.
Ms Kyriakides also noted that most Covid-19 vaccine contracts are expiring or have expired, and the Commission’s main concern is to match supply and demand. The Commission is therefore working on a long-term solution for 2023 and beyond and is in contact with vaccine suppliers to reduce the number of doses delivered, increase the flexibility of deliveries beyond 2023 and secure supplies to ensure that, should a new variant of SARS-CoV-2 emerge, Member States have a fully stocked strategic stockpile.
The voucher option, which provides other medicines from Pfizer’s portfolio in exchange for the cancellation of ordered vaccine doses, was explored but not pursued by the negotiating team.
Regarding the flexibility fees proposed by Pfizer, the EU Commissioner said that delicate negotiations were underway with the Member States. (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)