[ad_1]
Ursula von der Leyen is in the press room of the Berlaymont, the powerful headquarters of the EU Commission, and she is in her element. For weeks he had to listen to harsh criticism of his vaccine strategy, which is now considered a debacle, especially in Germany, and it became very clear that defense is not von der Leyen’s business. She seems even more relaxed now that she can finally get back to doing what she loves best: announcing great things in the spotlight.
Von der Leyen, it quickly becomes clear, wants to get back on the offensive in the fight against the corona virus. If you are successful in this you could decide if your term is considered a success, or even if it may end prematurely. A five point plan should set it up now:
-
the Genome sequencing virus must be sped up significantly so that new variants can be recognized more quickly than before. EU countries should receive at least € 75 million of EU funds.
-
This information is intended for adaptation of vaccines to new virus variants to ease; Von der Leyen intends to contribute another 150 million euros for the corresponding research projects.
-
A new Clinical Trials Network called »Vaccelerate« (made up of the English words for vaccine and accelerate), in which 16 EU states and five other countries participate, aims to improve the state of the data on the pandemic and the pathogen.
-
the Approval of new vaccines by the EU Medicines Agency EMA will be accelerated, based on the annual influenza model.
-
the Mass production of vaccines should be significantly expanded, supply chains secured and obstacles identified. Furthermore, new contracts with manufacturers should contain “detailed and credible plans” for production capacities in the EU, a clear reference to previous failures in the delivery of vaccines.
The plan bears the somewhat martial name »Hera Incubator«, which aims to express that a new EU authority is being developed here called the Authority for Preparedness and Response to Health Emergencies (Hera). It appeared in a Commission plan to strengthen resilience against health threats last November.
But von der Leyen’s commercial fireworks are not over yet: they also announce a new contract with the American company Moderna, with which the delivery of 160 million doses of vaccines was previously agreed. Moderna is expected to deliver another 150 million cans this year, with an option for another 150 million by 2022.
Doubts about conventional vaccines?
However, the EU Commission had previously ordered more than 1.5 billion doses of vaccines from six manufacturers and secured options for 760 million more, more than enough for 450 million EU citizens. The problem now lies more in the manufacture and distribution of vaccines. It is not clear why the Commission is now asking for 300 million more cans.
One obvious reason would be that the Commission wants to make sure it sources the best vaccines, those that are based on the new mRNA process and appear to be clearly superior to conventional vaccines. On the other hand, doubts about conventional vaccines from manufacturers like AstraZeneca are also growing in the population. The commission has now firmly asked for a total of 1 billion doses of mRNA vaccines from manufacturers Moderna, Biontech / Pfizer and Curevac, with options for another 430 million. This means that, in theory, the 450 million EU citizens could only be immunized with mRNA vaccines.
However, with the approval of the vaccines and the question of liability, von der Leyen apparently no longer just wants to play it safe, because, according to the information, that was the main reason for the late requests from the Commission. Unlike the UK and US, for example, it was decided against emergency approval. The official reason: you don’t want to jeopardize the public’s trust by using a fast-track procedure in the medical examination. However, the fact that, in the event of an emergency approval, national governments would have had to be held responsible for any harm to the vaccine, and not the manufacturers, also played a role.
Apparently both the EU Commission and some member states wanted to avoid this. Above all, the American company Pfizer is said to have long resisted taking responsibility. Von der Leyen is now ready to introduce an emergency authorization for vaccines at EU level “with joint responsibility of the member states”. To this end, “a specific change in drug law” is also conceivable. Speed, it seems clear, may be a bit more important in the future than the last bit of security.
SPD MEP Tiemo Wölken, for example, praises von der Leyen’s proposals, but is “surprised” that they are only now coming. Production and provisioning, for example, »should have started in the summer«. Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton objected that they did not even know which vaccine would win the race. And before that, it was impossible to identify bottlenecks in supply chains. When it was clear which vaccines would be successful, they acted as quickly as possible.
In fact, it didn’t take long for his commission to acquire vaccines, as was the case at the Leyen embassy. The researchers were simply even faster. “Last summer we would have been lucky if we had the vaccines in April of this year,” says von der Leyen. “Science has overtaken industry.”
