Covid-19: EU wants to better monitor variants and prepare second-generation vaccines

The European Commission, strongly criticized for the failures of the beginnings of vaccination, unveiled its plan on Wednesday to better cope with the rest of the pandemic.

These include monitoring coronavirus mutations, accelerating the approval of vaccines modified to combat these variants and strengthening the capacities of laboratories to produce them in Europe.

The European executive is proposing a "bio-defense" project, called the Hera Incubator, intended to stem the spread of the variants of the virus responsible for Covid-19, which are causing concern by their increased contagiousness and their possible resistance to current vaccines.

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The initiative, which will bring together institutions, biotechs and research organizations, will receive 75 million euros to develop specific tests and increase the sequencing of the virus genome.

The goal is to be able to process at least 5% of positive tests in order to identify mutations early.

Some 150 million additional euros will be committed to strengthen research and data exchange on these new variants.

Ensure the reliability of manufacturers

Much criticized for the long delivery times of the first anti-Covid vaccines in the EU, Brussels intends above all to take the initiative to guarantee its supplies of possible improved versions of the vaccines in the face of mutations in the virus.

The European executive, responsible for negotiating vaccine pre-orders on behalf of the Twenty-Seven, intends to “update” its contracts already signed or “conclude new ones” in order to support the development of new or modified vaccines.

And this, by ensuring that the manufacturers provide it with "a detailed and credible plan showing their capacities to produce these vaccines in the EU, with a reliable timetable", insists the Commission, specifying that it is ready to "consider sources of procurement outside the EU if necessary ”.

While pharmaceutical groups in January had reported various problems to justify their delays, the EU now wants "to work closely with manufacturers to help them monitor their supply chains and resolve their production difficulties."

Set up a production "reserve capacity"

A task that will be tackled by the "working group" recently set up by the Internal Market Commissioner, Thierry Breton, and responsible for the industrial aspects of vaccine manufacture, while an "EU-FAB" project aims to set up a “reserve capacity” for pharmaceutical production in emergency situations.

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Finally, laboratories could receive the green light from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) without having to go through all the stages of the certification process, by providing "a small set of additional data" if it is a question of improved version of a vaccine already authorized in the EU.