European Health Union and Vaccines

Postimees reports on the plans initiated by the European Commission to build a Health Union. As part of these plans, the Commission presented a new framework this week to reinforce European health security and prepare for future health crises. Moreover, a strengthened, integrated public health surveillance system will be created at the EU level, using artificial intelligence and other advanced technological means. Thirdly, coordination will be stepped up and support will be given to developing, stockpiling and procuring the products needed in a crisis. As the pandemic has exposed the EU’s dependency on foreign aid for medical equipment and medicines, the Commission will propose plans for a new body at the end of 2021. This body, the Health Emergency Response Authority, will be responsible for monitoring production capacities in order to ensure that supply chain vulnerabilities are addressed. Furthermore, the mandate of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) will be intensified to improve assistance for the Commission and the Member States in various fields. 

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Delo writes about the agreements that the EU has made with the biopharmaceutical companies responsible for the vaccines. The European Commission has approved a contract with BioNTech and Pfizer to provide the EU with up to 300 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. Member States will be guaranteed access at the same time under the same conditions once the vaccine has been approved. Previously, the EU had already made agreements with AstraZeneca, Sanofi-GSK and Johnson & Johnson for a COVID-19 vaccine. “A safe and effective vaccine is our best chance to beat coronavirus and return to our normal lives,” said Ursula von der Leyen last Thursday. Moreover, von der Leyen announced that, according to the most optimistic scenario, vaccination on a larger scale (20 to 50 million doses per month) could be launched in April. The European Investment Bank was involved in financing the development of the vaccine at BioNTech and Pfizer, providing one hundred million euros in June. Last Wednesday’s proposal for the European Heath Union has likewise reflected certain lessons that the EU has drawn from the current crisis. Stella Kyriakides, Commissioner for European Health, said that “in times of crisis where we are faced with health threats that transcend national borders, citizens expect the EU to take a more active role in protecting them.”

Público reports on last Wednesday’s announcement that the European Commission has signed off a deal for a vaccine with pharmaceutical company Pfizer and the German partner BioNTech. Up to 300 million doses of this vaccine against COVID-19 will be supplied. The United Kingdom, which is no longer part of the EU, negotiated an independent agreement to supply 40 million doses from Pfizer and BioNTech. This vaccine seems to be 90% effective, but vaccines will only be purchased after they are shown to be safe and have been approved by the European health regulator. A source from the EU said that the Commission is financing and investing, through the Emergency Support Instrument, to support biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies that are developing vaccines. The European Commission’s aim is to secure six potential vaccines against COVID-19, each available for every European. 

El País writes about what a vaccination programme could look like in Spain, one of the European countries that was hit the hardest by the pandemic. Salvador Illa, Spanish Minister of Health, expects to have 20 million doses of Pfizer’s vaccine against the coronavirus available for Spain by the beginning of the year; as it is a double dose vaccine, this amount could immunise about 10 million people. “The vaccines will be free, they will be distributed through the National Health System,” Illa said. The Minister of Health also noted that elderly and health personnel will be among the first to be vaccinated. He announced that, “if everything goes well,” a significant percentage of the Spanish and European population could be vaccinated by around May. Concerning the vaccine of Pfizer and BioNTech, the results have been reviewed by outside experts but have not yet been published in scientific journals for peer review. Mandatory vaccination does not seem likely in Spain, according to Illa. “We are going to do what we have been doing: explain the truth to the public, and the truth is that vaccines save lives.”