Bruised by the Covid-19, France and its European neighbors are leading a “race against time” to try to limit the spread of the virus and its variants.
But as the vaccination campaign accelerates on the continent, vaccine stocks are already proving to be smaller than expected.
Delays in deliveries have been announced by the Pfizer laboratory as well as by its British competitor AstraZeneca / Oxford.
Extended delays that threaten to slow down the vaccination schedule in several countries.
Can France counter these delays and what possibilities are available to it to unblock the situation?
The Parisian takes stock.
Pressure, the executive's first weapon
If the delivery to France should resume its normal course this week, the executive did not hesitate to raise its tone against the laboratories, even if it means brandishing threats of sanctions.
Asked Friday about Europe 1, the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clément Beaune insisted: “We Europeans have signed contracts with these laboratories.
These contracts are mandatory.
The commitments must be respected, otherwise there will be penalties or sanctions ”.
A threat that he was quick to qualify, however, ensuring that "the goal is not to have a trial that will last two years".
"The goal is to have dose deliveries now."
No ultimatum, no immediate prosecution therefore.
To date, political pressure seems to be the preferred way to try to accelerate the pace of laboratory production.
At the European level also, the Commission has assured that it does not want to "venture into legal discussions", said a spokesperson.
A position that can be understood, says Marie Albertini, a lawyer specializing in commercial litigation.
“At this point, the most important thing is to restart negotiations.
It is no wonder that the labs are energized.
We are only at the start of the manufacturing process.
These delays should be absorbed in the coming weeks, ”she said.
The lever of financial penalties
But faced with the spread of variants, a prolonged delay in dose deliveries could ultimately threaten the vaccination schedule of countries.
And according to some states justify legal action.
Judging that the health of Italians was not "negotiable", Italy thus indicated that it was considering legal sanctions against AstraZeneca, without giving further details.
“Financial penalties seem the most obvious solution.
They may appear in European contracts, in the event that the laboratory does not meet the deadlines set in terms of delivery.
The amount of such a penalty cannot be known since the contracts are confidential and fall under business secrecy.
One can however imagine that it would be significant, so that the sanction is dissuasive ”, notes the lawyer again.
A trial ?
" Unlikely "
And if the delays accumulated, could a state go to trial?
“It is very unlikely that we will go that far.
I don't even see the point.
The urgency is elsewhere: laboratories must quickly produce the doses.
To sue them would only hamper them.
No one would gain, ”emphasizes Marie Albertini.
Refunds?
" Very complicated "
Requesting a refund for pre-orders seems just as restrictive.
And this, even if the EU had pre-ordered 1.5 billion doses of vaccines, including 200 million just for France.
“Claiming a reimbursement seems very complicated to me because this money is also used to invest in research and in new technologies in terms of vaccination.
Except to show that the laboratories have found absolutely nothing, a reimbursement hardly seems possible to me ”, specifies Master Muriel Bodin, specialist in health law.
Associate other laboratories with production
Complex or even ineffective, the lawsuits and sanctions addressed to pharmaceutical groups could ultimately complicate a situation that is admittedly tense, but temporary.
Another hypothesis, France, struggling in terms of research, could join forces with other laboratories to try to speed up the production rate.
Thus, after indicating that its vaccine would not be ready before the end of 2021, Sanofi announced that it had approached Pfizer / BioNTech to help them in their production.
The French giant will begin to bottle the doses produced by its competitor in July.
A subcontracting which promises to be “advantageous” considers Marie Albertini.
"By making its production lines available, Sanofi will considerably increase the production of doses", she insists.
Not to mention that in the long term, France could itself gain logistically: "we could expect that these new vaccines, after consultation, can be administered in France".
In other words, the supply of these precious doses in France could be greatly facilitated, with a greatly reduced distribution chain.
Indeed, the director of the French group Paul Hudson indicated to Le Figaro that "more than 100 million doses" would be supplied "by the end of the year, to the European Union, and therefore partly to France ".
Blowing up patents, too drastic a measure?
Finally, in such an exceptional context, could not an even more radical response be undertaken?
Wanting to put an end to the law of the markets, some elected officials like Fabien Roussel, secretary general of the Communist Party (PCF) are still campaigning for vaccines to fall into the public domain.
Invited on the Franceinfo set on January 17, the deputy from the North defended a "lifting of patents on these vaccines".
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“There must be no competition for these vaccines […].
Each country could decide to seize these vaccines without trade secrets, so that they can be produced in numbers […] and that all the peoples of the world have access to them in the same way, which is not the case today. 'hui', defended the elected official.
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Beyond its “radical” nature, this option could threaten the quality of the doses produced, judges the lawyer specializing in litigation, Marie Albertini.
“Lifting the patents means that any country could manufacture these vaccines according to their regulations.
However, one can easily imagine that certain States do not have the same technique or expertise to manufacture doses.
The quality of the product and its effectiveness could be compromised.
".
For part of the medical world, everyone cannot be vaccinated without the State having recourse to "free office", this legal tool allowing it to urgently lift the patents of vaccine producers so that all laboratories can produce it themselves.
The interest is therefore to make the right to health protection take precedence over that of the financial interests associated with it, by guaranteeing massive vaccination coverage at low cost.
An objective which at first glance would join that mentioned in June 2020 by Emmanuel Macron: that of making vaccination, "a global public good".