EU News
Vaccine strategy: Budget MEPs quiz EU health chief Sandra Gallina
In a debate on Monday, Budget Committee Members questioned the Commission’s Health Director-General on vaccine availability and the use of the EU budget.
In her introductory remarks, Sandra Gallina, Director-General for Health and Food Safety in the European Commission, explained what the Commission is doing to obtain enough vaccines to reach its objective of having 70% of the EU’s adult population inoculated by the summer. Contracts had to be negotiated rapidly, she said, with liability and indemnification being of paramount importance. The EU has “gone beyond the 12-million-vaccinations mark”, she underlined, saying that “there is no need to envy the US or Israel”.
| UPDATED: 14:41, Mon, Feb 1, 2021
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Brussels received widespread condemnation after triggering an emergency clause in the Brexit deal which would slow down the exportation of vaccine supplies to Northern Ireland. Although the bloc backed down within hours and reversed its decision, those in both Northern Ireland and its EU neighbour, the Republic of Ireland, were horrified by the move. Northern Ireland’s First Minister Arlene Foster said the bloc had committed a “hostile and aggressive act”, while the Republic’s Government spokesperson said the Taoiseach was in
As other rich countries have surged ahead in vaccinating against COVID-19, the European Union has been left lagging behind.
It s not that the EU doesn t recognise the urgency: the European Commission has already signed contracts for more than two billion vaccine doses from six companies. It wants countries to vaccinate 70% of their populations by this summer.
But whereas the UK has administered 11 doses per 100 people and the US 7.9 doses per 100 people, Germany has given 2.6 doses per 100 people, Italy 2.8 doses per 100 people and France 1.8 per 100 people, according to Our World in Data.
The EU now faces heightened criticism as delivery delays from pharmaceutical companies have prompted many to ask what the bloc could have done better in its initial rollout.
An EU emergency health fund to limit the impact of future crises
Leading finance experts propose an Emergency Health Financing Facility to limit the impact of future crises on the EU
The last systemic crisis
The Global Financial Crash in 2008 brought several EU countries close to the brink of default.
Pre- existing structures were not sufficient to avoid the crisis, but lessons were learnt and new regulation was put in place to stop this happening in the future. This crisis was described as a ‘once in a lifetime systemic crisis’.
However, just over a decade later, the world has found itself in yet another systemic crisis – The Great Lockdown Crisis of 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic, and the necessary restrictions and regulations brought in around the world to curb the spread of the virus, has resulted in a global economic crisis.
Europe is in a race against time. While the early roll-out of the vaccine has been beset by difficulties, it is expected to pick up dramatically from March. But the arrival of more infectious Covid variants is threatening to extinguish the hopes associated with mass vaccination.