Do everything to disprove the adage "never two without three".
After the shortage and trafficking of masks, then the screening failures, the various European countries have this time coordinated upstream for the next major logistical step in the face of Covid-19: vaccine orders.
Since last spring, the European Commission has built a strategy, taking control of exchanges with the handful of large laboratories concerned.
“We are speeding up the development of vaccines and allowing industrial groups to have a single point of contact at European level.
It would not be of interest for countries to compete with each other, ”argues Guillaume Roty, spokesperson for the European Commission in France.
"We are stronger when we negotiate for 450 million inhabitants [the population of the European Union, editor's note] than for 67 million French people", we add to Bercy.
Agreement already reached with five groups
Throughout the procedure, a pair of negotiators of two nationalities is in constant contact with, on the one hand, the representatives of each of the industrial groups and, on the other, the various European countries.
France was physically present in two negotiations, the one with the British group Astrazenka and the one with the French Sanofi.
Since the end of August, an agreement has already been concluded with five behemoths: AstraZeneca, Sanofi, Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, the BioNTech - Pfizer alliance and finally, since Tuesday, CureVac.
Discussions with Moderna are still dragging on, despite the announcement of "advanced discussions" on August 24.
"Being late, it will not limit the total quantity, it will slow down delivery", annoyed Tuesday the French boss of the American firm, Stéphane Bancel.
"Playing public opinion against political leaders and putting a knife to their throats, I do not think that this is the best strategy", wonders Frédéric Bizard, professor of economics at ESCP and president of the Health Institute.
In total, more than 1.2 billion doses have already been pre-ordered, to which can be added another 580 million in a second step if necessary.
For these reservations alone, 2.15 billion euros were taken from the European budget.
“Part of this sum will be lost if this or that product does not finally obtain the agreement of the European Medicines Agency, but signing with many laboratories is an assurance because not all of them will perhaps succeed.
This money is used to finance clinical trials and investments in production chains, ”says Guillaume Roty.
"There is an absolute need for transparency of contracts"
However, the total cost of these orders is kept confidential.
Starting from an order of magnitude of 10 euros per dose, we can imagine that the total range will be between 10 and 20 billion euros.
This opacity annoys several elected Europeans.
"I am not asking for the publication of the contracts because there may be legitimately confidential clauses but we should at least know the cost structure, in order to know if we are paying the right price, as well as the mechanism of legal liability", toned MEP Pascal Canfin (Renew Europe).
The one who chairs the Committee on the Environment and Public Health wrote a letter on October 22 to the European Commissioner for Health, Stélla Kyriakídou, to inform him of his complaints.
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"There is an absolute need for transparency of contracts, especially if we want to strengthen acceptability and reduce the mistrust of populations vis-à-vis vaccines", justifies the former elected Europe Ecology-the Greens (EELV).
As for Moderna's pressure move, "this confirms that the laboratories are exerting very significant pressure and that the balance of power is not in favor of the public authorities, but it also reassures me about European requirements".
Each country decides on its vaccination policy
The rest of the procedure provides for the start of the purchase of orders as soon as the European Medicines Agency has issued the first marketing authorizations.
The first are expected by the end of the year, in order to be able to start vaccinating at the beginning of 2021. For each laboratory, the hundreds of millions of doses will be distributed by country according to its population, with more or less flexibility for some contracts.
"Everyone is treated on an equal footing", summarizes the entourage of Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the Minister Delegate to the Minister of the Economy, Finance and Recovery, in charge of this file.
"The contracts are negotiated at European level but each member country will pay for its stock", specifies Guillaume Roty.
France is already counting on 90 million doses for the first half of the year, according to Les Echos.
This would represent a theoretical capacity to vaccinate 45 million inhabitants, since two doses are required per person.
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For the rest, Europe will no longer have a say.
Each country remains in control of developing its health policy, and in particular its vaccination strategy (compulsory, as a priority for caregivers or vulnerable people, etc.).
A country may also come to an agreement with another to retrocede to it, possibly at an advantageous price, part of its stocks.
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"Let us imagine that France has a need of 30 million and Germany of 50 million at a time T, we can imagine finding a way to arrange things", illustrates Frédéric Bizard.
Enough to forget the pataquès of March on masks, when Italy accused the Czech Republic of having appropriated a shipment of masks from China and that Sweden complained of a seizure of 4 million equipment by France on its soil.
Moreover, if "the European countries have undertaken not to negotiate each on their own with a laboratory if there are already discussions at European level", as Guillaume Roty indicates, each remains free to obtain supplies elsewhere. .
Hungary has just announced that it will receive, in the coming days, the first samples of the Russian Sputnik-V vaccine.
