EAPM - Déileálann an vacsaín déthaobhach go géar, na billiúin a chaitear ar vacsaíní

The EU's chief vaccine negotiator has said the commission has no knowledge of any individual member state signing bilateral deals for Covid-19 jabs. Sandra Gallina, the head of DG SANTE and lead vaccine negotiator for the Commission, told MEPs today (12 January) that despite media reports, Brussels had neither seen nor heard of any countries signing "parallel contracts" for the vaccine beyond the commission's own orders."These parallel contracts have been much rumoured. I haven't seen yet one. 

And I don't think I will ever see one. It's something that in my view does not exist," said Gallina, who added that the commission had "good intelligence" on what was going on in its member states.

Brussels signed advanced procurement deals with key vaccine developers last year and has secured 300m doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech jab, with an additional 300m forthcoming. The Moderna jab has also been cleared by the European Medicines Agency. The vaccines are distributed to member states based on its population size.

Gallina in hot seat

And Gallina will be under fire in the health committee today, following criticism over the EU’s vaccine deals.

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The Commission has been blamed in some quarters for not purchasing enough vaccines, but, despite securing another 300 million doses of the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine last week, the Commission was then under fire for grabbing so much of the German-American companies’ 2021 vaccine supply. Gallina, known for her no-nonsense attitude, will certainly have her work cut out, there is a bonus – MEPs can view the CureVac contract as of today, which Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides announced Monday (11 January). 

All MEPs are eligible to see the CureVac contract, but it’s up to the health committee to arrange access for the 705 MEPs. “The question is how to produce it, how fast to produce it. And if you had ordered more, it couldn’t have been produced any faster,” said Hanno Kautz, health ministry spokesperson. “The shortage comes from the lack of production capacity.” 

France also in MEPs’ sights

Fraincis go laethúil Le Monde charts how in France, some hospitals don’t have enough supplies of the vaccine and how needle deliveries are being outpaced by doses of the vaccine. In fact, in France, the opposition argues that the strategy is too slow and cautious compared to its European neighbours. 

And questions about bilateral agreements are still very much in the news, with a Commission spokesperson saying on January 11 that Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides would be sending a letter to all health ministers “asking them to provide us with all the necessary transparency on the way in which they are complying with the provisions of our vaccines strategy in terms of contacts, or lack of contacts rather, with those pharmaceutical companies that we have been or are negotiating with”. 

UK spending on COVID vaccines hits nearly £12billion

The UK’s push to secure and administer hundreds of millions of doses of coronavirus vaccines is estimated to have cost up to £11.7 billion so far, according to the public spending watchdog. The government has signed deals for five vaccines providing up to 267 million doses at an expected cost of £2.9bn, with non-binding agreements with two other companies set to bring total provision to 357m doses, the National Audit Office said.

Additional costs including those associated with sponsoring trials, distributing and administering the vaccines lifted the total spend to £11.7bn. In negotiating with the EU, drugmakers pursued a similar approach. Both the UK and the EU rejected requests for complete immunity. 

Commission to publish cancer plan

The Commission’s Europe’s Beating Cancer plan is scheduled for 4 February, which is World Cancer Day, said DG SANTE’s director for public health, John Ryan, speaking to the Parliament’s Cancer committee. 

Every year, 3.5 million persons are diagnosed with cancer in the European Union. It is a serious health issue that will directly affect 40% of EU citizens with important impacts on the European health systems and economies. However, with up to 40% of cancer cases being attributed to preventable causes, the scope for action and potential to reduce the number of cases in the EU is immense. 

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said: “Everyone has a friend, a colleague or a relative who's gone through this. Everyone has experienced the same sense of sadness and helplessness. But there is something we can do – individually and collectively. At Member State's level and through our European Union. Of course, we do not start from scratch. But there is much more we can do than we are currently doing.”

Promoting our European Way of Life Vice-President Margaritis Schinas said: “Cancer concerns us all, in one way or another. Promoting our European Way of Life is also about values, dignity and synergies; that is what any policy on cancer should build on. The Europe's Beating Cancer Plan is a new major effort to make this happen, by opening a new era in cancer prevention and care. Together, let's shape a patient-centred Beating Cancer Plan that brings hope and life opportunities to all patients, their families and their friends in Europe. We can win this battle!” 

'Vaccine passports' give rise to discussions of ‘risk’

Following indications by lawmakers and at least one airline that vaccination against coronavirus could become a requirement for international travel, the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) on Monday (11 January) said mandating inoculations would be discriminatory. 

In a Reuters panel discussion where health experts also expressed a long road to global herd immunity, the head of the organization called for global prioritization of “vulnerable groups,” and admonished those touting potential vaccine requirements for a return to travel. “We should never require the vaccination to get a job or to travel,” WTTC chief executive Gloria Guevara said in the Reuters video panel. “If you require the vaccination before travel, that takes us to discrimination.”

 Belgium is in favor of a “verifiable COVID-19 vaccination certificate” on an EU or even global level. And in recent weeks, the Spanish government indicated it would implement an inverted sort of vaccine passport, by registering those who refused the vaccine and sharing the data with other European partners. France has a similar plan, but with limits on how long that data is stored and specifying which authorities can access it, its data protection regulator believes it can adhere to privacy rules.

Countries join rescEU

Belgium, the Netherlands and Slovenia have all become host countries for rescEU — joining Denmark, Germany, Greece, Romania, Hungary and Sweden. RescEU supplies include over 65 million medical masks and 280 million pairs of medical gloves. In an announcement on 11 January, the Commission said that Germany had also added a second medical reserve. 

And that is all from EAPM for now, have an excellent week, stay safe and well, see you soon.