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The EU Commission is in defense mode: could it have ordered more coronavirus vaccines? But the problem lies less in Brussels than in Member States and manufacturers.
By Alexander Göbel, ARD-Studio Brussels
Since Corona vaccines began shortly after Christmas in Germany, a heated debate has raged, fueled by politics and the media: Given the high number of new infections, is the pace fast enough? Is the vaccine enough? Why wasn’t it much neater?
For many, the blame for the uneven start of vaccination lies with “the EU”: it has failed once again. “Brussels”, however, decided nothing on its own.
Common vaccination strategy
A look back: at the beginning there was a vaccination alliance, started by Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands. More and more countries wanted to participate, said government spokesman Steffen Seibert. Then the project was soon handed over to the EU as a whole.
By then, the Commission had already started investing in companies to accelerate research, development and production of vaccines. The EU Commission thus became a service provider for the member states; basically, he didn’t buy any vaccine outright. Rather, EU countries decided which vaccines to order and how many of them.
The EU vaccination strategy that resulted from this was agreed from the beginning: the 27 EU states jointly command to avoid any vaccination nationalism. The vaccines are distributed according to a fixed population code.
Treaties in coordination with the states
Then the EU Commission entered into contracts on behalf of and with the consent of the member states, with six manufacturers so far, not to rely on just one vaccine, because it was not known which vaccine would be marketed and approved first.
The Commission also used its bargaining power to influence prices and volumes. The German Advisory Council also knew that individual member states would not have succeeded. The “Wirtschaftsweise” declared in November 2020: “A common European strategy can give the EU a stronger position in the world market and presumably ensure access to the vaccine for member states in a more cost-effective and reliable way.”
A common and coordinated approach at EU level was considered “generally desirable”. Approximately two billion doses of vaccines for 450 million people in the EU are now insured in this way.
A question of responsibility
The joy was great when the European Medicines Agency EMA in Amsterdam gave the green light to the first Biontech / Pfizer vaccine before Christmas, even if it had long been vaccinated in Britain by emergency approval.
But here too, all member states were and are in agreement: “Ordinary”, the so-called conditional market approvals must be awaited. Because it is about the best possible quality and compatibility over a large database, and because it is about liability issues. Because in the case of emergency approvals, the respective state is responsible in case of problems; in the case of conditional market approval, the responsibility lies with the manufacturer.
The American manufacturer Moderna’s vaccine will now be approved as the second new vaccine after Biontech Pfizer, and pressure on the EMA remains high to quickly pave the way for AstraZeneca’s vaccine, which is already approved in Britain. If delivered, it would have the advantage that unlike Biontech / Pfizer and Moderna it does not have to be laboriously cooled, it is significantly cheaper, and it can also be administered in doctor’s offices. But it’s not just about which vaccines are available, but how many and when.
Defense mode commission
However: the EU Commission is in defense mode and has to defend itself against harsh criticism of its purchasing strategy; also because it shows little transparency about how the respective contracts were concluded. But would a larger order have resulted in faster vaccines? Unlikely.
The problem does not appear to be the supposedly low order quantity, but rather the low production capacity of the manufacturers. “The quantity of vaccines we have is sufficient,” said Commission spokesman Eric Mamer in Brussels. The funds would now have to be produced and distributed.
Already in autumn it was said that delivery of the vaccines would gradually expand from the end of 2020 and that large deliveries were expected in April. “So it’s quite surprising to see that now we turn around and say, ‘Why aren’t all the vaccine doses on the market yet?'”
After all, when it became clear that Biontech / Pfizer would soon be approved, the EU quickly rearranged it and they are currently negotiating on whether there will be more of this vaccine in the near future, beyond the 300 million doses of vaccine so far.
Are you taking more risks?
But of course the EU could have asked for more from Biontech early on, even if this is one of the most expensive vaccines. At least that’s what many observers would have liked. You say: The Commission should have taken a much higher risk, also in view of the much higher costs that have arisen from the crown lockdown.
“All decision makers in Berlin and also in Munich knew what the strategy was in terms of delivery quantities,” replied Lucas Guttenberg from the Jacques Delors Center in Berlin on Twitter. The numbers had been known for months. “Anyone who is outraged and pretends not to know anything has slept or is lying.”
“Those who are now criticizing the EU for ordering only two or three times the required amount and did not already know in August which of the announced vaccines would be the most promising, otherwise they would have headlines such as’ Giant waste: the EU needs millions ordered the vaccine not ‘or’ billions wasted! ‘spread, “explains EU MP Daniel Caspary (CDU).
A matter of price
In fact, the Commission had to “spread out” its vaccine purchases without knowing which vaccine would be approved and how quickly. And: it had to be borne in mind that the Eastern European EU countries in particular would first rely on a conventional and therefore cheaper vaccine, for example from the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca.
Biontech / Pfizer was too expensive for some, others, like France, favored the Franco-British partner Sanofi and GSK. The problem: none of them will receive approval in the foreseeable future, none of them could comply. But these two manufacturers alone have ordered up to 700 million of the total two billion doses of vaccines.
Lucas Guttenberg of the Jacques Delors Center in Berlin does not want to accept the charge that the EU has asked “very little” from Biontech because “they still had to buy 300 million cans of Sanofi in France”, if only because the Commission did. Just a week later, I ordered 400 million doses of vaccines from the Tübingen-based manufacturer CureVac.
However, the “buying behavior” of EU countries now rests with the EU Commission, and it sounds a bit desperate when Commission spokesman Eric Mamer declared in Brussels: “The EU would easily have signed contracts for the member states to buy ten billion doses of vaccines But: if the member states don’t buy the vaccines, they won’t do anything either. “
