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BRUSSELS: The European Commission said on Monday (August 31) that it would contribute to an initiative led by the World Health Organization to purchase COVID-19 vaccines, while the WHO said that Germany had joined the pact and that the agency has yet to he was negotiating with the political bloc.
The Commission, which announced it would provide 400 million euros ($ 478 million) in guarantees, did not clarify whether EU states would purchase injections through the WHO scheme.
“Germany has joined the COVAX facility today,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Gheybreyesus told a press conference in Geneva without elaborating on the terms.
“And we are also negotiating with the rest of the EU members. One possibility that we are checking is that the EU members come together as a bloc. I think the best way to end this pandemic is through solidarity, cooperation, unity “. Tedros added.
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The COVAX initiative aims to purchase 2 billion doses of potential COVID-19 injections from various vaccine manufacturers for all countries in the world by the end of 2021.
Financial support from the EU will be provided through guarantees, the Commission said. A spokeswoman for the EU executive did not clarify how these guarantees would be offered and why they were preferred to direct cash financing.
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“Today, the Commission announces a contribution of € 400 million to COVAX to work together to purchase future vaccines for the benefit of low- and middle-income countries,” said the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
The EU Commission is negotiating advance purchases of COVID-19 vaccines with various drug manufacturers on behalf of the 27 EU states and has previously said that EU governments cannot purchase vaccines through parallel procurement schemes.
When asked if its guidance to EU states not to buy vaccines through COVAX was now dropped, a spokeswoman for the commission declined to elaborate.
“Detailed terms and conditions for the EU’s participation and contribution will be worked out in the coming days and weeks,” the Commission said.
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The Commission added in a statement that it was ready, together with EU states, “to put experience and resources into practice within COVAX to accelerate and expand the development and manufacture of a global supply of vaccines for citizens of all over the world, in poor countries and rich countries. “
Critics have said that by purchasing vaccines exclusively through an EU scheme, the Commission was effectively undermining the WHO-led initiative.
The Commission said it was committed to donating to developing countries some of the vaccines it purchases through its procurement plan.
At least 172 countries have registered expressions of interest in COVAX, including 92 low- and middle-income countries eligible to obtain doses through the GAVI vaccine alliance, which covers much of their cost. Some 80 self-financing countries have also submitted expressions of interest and must make firm commitments by September 18.
The United States, Japan, Britain and the EU have reached their own agreements to secure millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccine for their citizens, ignoring WHO warnings that “vaccine nationalism” will reduce supplies.
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