Commission chief spokesperson reassures vaccine roll-out on track

The European Commission Chief Spokesperson Eric Mamer rebuffed criticism of the slow uptake of vaccines across the EU, since the authorization of the BioNTech vaccine at the end of December. The EU has in fact secured over 2 billion doses of various vaccines and EU countries will be responsible for the deployment. 

The EU has in fact invested early in vaccines, setting out its strategy on development, manufacturing and deployment of vaccines last June. The Commission asked each state to draw up their national strategy for deployment. It has also worked with its medicines regulator, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), based in Stockholm, to ascertain conditional market access as swiftly as possible, but with a strong emphasis on patient safety. 

By acting collectively, the Commission has been able to make larger and cheaper orders. EU countries will then buy the vaccines that they believe are best suited to their circumstances. For example, the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine requires sub-zero temperatures and is more demanding to roll out andit also requires a first and second dose. This is more demanding for some countries to achieve.

The Commission is the co-ordinator; it is up to member states to decide whether they want to buy a specific vaccine and how many doses of that vaccine they want. 

Chief Spokesperson Eric Mamer said that the judgements being made were premature, as the roll-out has just started. This process was always foreseen as a process that would build-up progressively, with big deliveries anticipated for April - but this was always dependent on issues like regulatory approval. 

So far, just one vaccine has received conditional market authorization, the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. Today (4 January), EMA announced that its committee for human medicines (CHMP) discussion on COVID-19 vaccine Moderna has not concluded today. It will continue on 6 January.

EMA's committee for human medicines (CHMP) discussion on COVID-19 vaccine Moderna has not concluded today. It will continue on Wednesday 6th January 2021. No further communication will be issued today by EMA.

— EU Medicines Agency (@EMA_News) January 4, 2021

The EU has pre-ordered 2 billion doses of vaccines so far. It has invested in a diversified portfolio of vaccines for EU citizens. Contracts have been concluded with AstraZeneca (400 million doses), Sanofi-GSK (300 million doses), Johnson and Johnson (400 million doses ), BioNTech-Pfizer 300 million doses, CureVac (405 million doses) and Moderna (160 million doses). It has concluded exploratory talks with the pharmaceutical company Novavax with a view to purchasing up to 200 million doses.

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