Renew Europe: Much better coordination and cooperation needed for EU to reach vaccination target

The European Parliament continues to push for faster vaccination efforts across Europe. Yesterday a hearing was held of the joint Health and Industry committees, together with commissioners Kyriakides and Breton and CEOs from the seven pharmaceutical companies that are currently producing vaccines for use in the European Union or soon will be.

All stressed the unprecedented speed at which Covid-vaccines were developed, but also highlighted the difficulties they face in mass production and logistics across Europe and beyond.

ENVI-chair Pascal Canfin (Liste Renaissance, FR) stated : "This hearing between the MEPs and CEOs of vaccine producers was a world first. We need to engage with CEOs of pharma industries to debate the solutions on how to produce more vaccines in Europe massively, and to know whether they are on track to deliver on their commitments."

The support for the EU framework for negotiations, authorisations and coordination of additional production was broadly shared among speakers, and Renew Europe ITRE coordinator Martina Dlabajová (ANO, CZ) underlined the need for more transparency of contracts, deliveries and effectiveness of vaccines: "Our citizens need a transparent framework to trust the vaccination process, they deserve clear explanations over the supply outages we are facing today. We need a clear signal that a strong cooperation among the European Commission, national authorities, multinationals and even smaller companies will overcome bottlenecks in supply. We are all partners and we are facing this challenge together."