Brussels firmly reminded EU member states on Wednesday of their commitment not to launch their “
own procurement procedures
” for anti-Covid vaccines, and urged them to report regularly and accurately on the number of people vaccinated.
Read also: Purchase of vaccines: Europe's top secret negotiations with manufacturers
While the Twenty-Seven mandated the European Commission in June 2020 to negotiate vaccine pre-orders on their behalf, separate memoranda of understanding signed by Germany and a call for vaccine supply from Cyprus to Israel sparked controversy. .
"
Let me remind you that by approving the agreement (delegating the negotiations to the EU), you agreed not to launch your own procedures for the purchase of vaccines with the same laboratories
", launched the Commissioner. Health Stella Kyriakides, during a videoconference with the European Ministers of Health.
This provision was included in a “
legally binding
”
annex of June 18
.
"
I understand the pressures at national level and the anguish of your citizens (...) but concluding side agreements will only undermine a European approach which has borne fruit,
" she added.
Discussions with Novavax and Valneva
The EU has already signed six contracts with laboratories for vaccine orders, and is continuing its discussions with the American Novavax and the Franco-Austrian Valneva.
Europe could get up to 2.5 billion doses.
However, Berlin has directly concluded “
national
”
memoranda of understanding
with the German-American duo Pfizer-BioNTech and the German CureVac, according to the German Ministry of Health.
But according to German MEP Peter Liese (PPE), these options will not be activated: “
The debate is closed.
The potential BioNTech / Pfizer vaccine was unloved this summer, with complicated logistics, few states wanted it,
”he explained Wednesday.
"
Germany wanted more then
" and concluded these memoranda of understanding but "
nobody thinks today of ordering additional doses when the EU will get 600 million
" via its contracts, he explained. in front of journalists.
Joint purchases for equipment
Stella Kyriakides also asked member states to transmit their vaccination figures "
at least twice a week
" to the vaccination monitoring platform (TESSy) of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
Regarding the appropriate syringes and needles, Ms Kyriakides encouraged states to obtain the materials they need through a joint procurement process initiated by the EU, which allows them to place
orders
"
immediately
".
