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The initiative of the conservative Kurz and the Social Democrat Frederiksen is attracting a lot of attention in Brussels.
Because Kurz said: “We should no longer rely solely on the EU for the production of second-generation vaccines.” Which raised the question of whether EU states could source vaccines outside of joint EU procurement. The answer is yes, as long as it does not violate EU procurement rules. All EU states have contractually agreed not to conduct parallel negotiations with the six vaccine manufacturers with whom the Commission has concluded supply contracts. Kurz and Frederiksen do not intend to do this. They are interested in developing next-generation vaccines for virus mutations.
“Solidarity with vaccines in the EU is crumbling,” commented the Politico news portal. The EU Commission’s chief spokesman, Eric Mamer, was asked if EU leaders have lost confidence in the EU’s common vaccine strategy. He remained secretive and noted the high level of support for EU recruitment. By the way, the Commission is definitely “interested in learning from Austria, Denmark and Israel”. He recalled that the commission was also planning express approvals for mutation vaccines and had established a working group to establish additional production sites.
“No vote of no confidence”
Frederiksen assured that this is not a vote of no confidence in the EU, but an additional precautionary measure. Other EU countries also buy vaccines outside the EU quota. Hungary, for example, bought two million doses of the Russian vaccine and five million doses from China.
On Tuesday evening, Kurz, Economy Minister Margarete Schrambck and Science Minister Heinz Famann (all vice-presidents) spoke with pharmaceutical representatives and researchers in Vienna. Schrambck announced a “vaccine production working group.” According to experts, it generally takes five to ten years to generate a vaccine production. Kurz said there was already a pharmaceutical production plant in Austria. “We are not starting from scratch.”
There was excitement yesterday when it became known that the vaccination doses delivered to Austria had not yet been vaccinated. According to the EU health authority ECDC, around 20 percent are in stock (170,000 cans). In an EU comparison, Austria ranks seventh in terms of vaccination efficiency. Chancellor Kurz spoke of the main regional differences and called for countries to move faster. Krnten was vaccinated faster and had 9 percent in stock, while in Salzburg 24 percent was in stock (Upper Austria, 15 percent). Vienna Health Councilor Peter Hacker (SP) reacted angrily. He’s being vilified for what’s in there, and the federal government knows it too. There was a lot of criticism of the stockpiled SP and Neos vaccines.
“Warehouses will never be empty”
The Ministry of Health announced: “Federal states are requesting available and promised vaccine quantities for the desired delivery dates. If, for example, a vaccination campaign focus is planned in a region over a longer period of time , There may be delays. The vaccinated, scheduled will be updated daily and, of course, arrangements must be made for the second round of vaccination. Therefore, the warehouses will never be completely empty. “(Via / az)
