EU announces deal with Pfizer, others to reserve vaccines for future pandemic (updated)
30/06/2023 12:24
(updates earlier exclusive source based story with official
statement in paragraph 4, Peoples Vaccine Alliance paragraph 6)
By Maggie Fick
LONDON, June 30 (Reuters) - The European Commission has
contracted Pfizer PFE.N and several European companies to
reserve capacity to make up to 325 million vaccines per year in
case of a future global health emergency, it said on Friday.
The agreement, first reported by Reuters earlier in the day,
covers mRNA, vector-based and protein-based vaccines and does
not relate to existing COVID-19 vaccine agreements between the
EU and vaccine makers including Pfizer.
The European Commission said in a statement announcing the
deal that the COVID pandemic showed that Europe needs to be
better prepared for future health emergencies.
The deal ensures that companies are ready "to respond to a
crisis" by keeping their facilities up to date and monitoring
their supply chains, "including stockpiling where necessary",
the Commission said. If a new public health emergency is
declared, companies would "rapidly start production", it said.
But vaccine equity activists said the EU risked a repeat of
what the World Health Organization dubbed "vaccine apartheid"
during COVID-19.
“After a pandemic in which developing countries were sent to
the back of the queue for vaccines and treatments, the EU and
pharmaceutical companies seem to be planning to do it all over
again in the next health crisis," said Mohga Kamal-Yanni, policy
co-lead for the People’s Vaccine Alliance.
The Commission has selected Pfizer's plants in Ireland and
Belgium to reserve capacity to produce mRNA vaccines. It
selected Spanish companies Reig Jofre RJFE.MC and Laboratorios
Hipra SA to reserve capacity for protein-based vaccines and
Bilthoven Biologicals B.V. of the Netherlands for vector-based
vaccines. None of the companies immediately responded to a
request for comment.
The World Health Organisation has urged governments and
manufacturers to reserve up to 20% of any tests, vaccines or
treatments for the global agency to distribute in poorer
countries to avoid a repeat of the "catastrophic failure" during
the COVID pandemic, according to a draft of a global pandemic
agreement currently being discussed.
(Reporting by Maggie Fick; additional reporting by Jennifer
Rigby in London;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
((maggie.fick@thomsonreuters.com; +44 7890 916706;))