Debate: Transparency of the Purchase as well as the Access to COVID- vaccinations
Date: THURSDAY, 12 NOVEMBER 2020
Speaker: Stella Kyriakides
Language: EN

Every day when we listen to the news and we hear in all our countries the number of people who have been admitted to hospitals to intensive care, the number of people who lose their lives, we understand that we need to do everything possible, and this is what we have been doing as a Commission from the very beginning. Vaccination is not going to be a magic solution that will allow us to go back to our everyday lives overnight. Unfortunately, for COVID—19 there is really no silver bullet and it is important that when we communicate to citizens, we are open and frank about this. But vaccinations, once we have a safe and effective vaccine, will play a crucial role. It will play a crucial role in saving lives, in containing the pandemic, in protecting our health systems and, of course, in restoring our economy. It will provide our citizens with a sense of hope and predictability. Predictability is something that we often take for granted, but what we have been living with in the last 10 months is the uncertainty of not knowing what the next day will hold. On Monday, we saw financial markets reacting with glee to the encouraging announcements from one of the vaccine developers. But I also saw something else, I saw the element of hope that European Union citizens felt with this news. We are therefore doing everything we can to ensure that vaccines are produced as quickly and as safely as possible. To maximise our chances of success, we have been working very intensively to have a diverse, common EU portfolio of vaccines against COVID—19 as soon as possible and developed using different technologies. The negotiations with companies have been intensive and inclusive, carried out with and for Member States. To date, we have signed three contracts, and are about to sign the fourth with Pfizer/BioNTech. Our negotiations are also advanced with another two companies and exploratory talks are ongoing with a number of producers. I have often been asked over the last few days, and I want to reassure you, that once a vaccine becomes available, all Member States will have equal access to the available doses at the same time, according to the agreements we have concluded. Now I fully recognise the importance of transparency in this process. Due to the highly competitive nature of this global market, the Commission is legally not able to disclose the information contained in the contracts. Non—disclosure clauses are a standard feature of these agreements that vaccine developers have also concluded with other countries. This is necessary to protect these sensitive negotiations and business—related information, such as financial information, development and production plans. The companies require that such sensitive business information remains confidential between the signatories of the contract. The Commission, therefore, cannot really decide to unilaterally disclose them without the consent of all involved parties. But these are rules that also protect the tendering process and we fully abide by them, not for the reasons linked to contractors’ commercial interests, but also because we do not want to weaken the position of the Commission in the negotiations. We need to be extremely careful during these negotiations, so that we do not have companies leading to cherry—picking on the best conditions. So let me conclude by addressing some of the worries that I’m sure I will hear about today and I have heard over the past weeks. Safety: safety is a fundamental requirement for any vaccine to be deployed in the EU. The safety of our citizens is a top priority and it is not negotiable for us. The European Medicines Agency will be doing everything possible once any vaccine submits for authorisation, to ensure that the safety dimension is covered. Let me stress this: we all need to have the same messaging because we see a lot of vaccination hesitancy. This has been ongoing before COVID—19 with vaccination hesitancy to do with children’s diseases, with measles, and we cannot afford to encourage this. So, what we want to do is have common communication and assure citizens that we will not lower the bar in terms of safety at any cost. Secondly, the agreements with the vaccine developers do not change or derogate from the EU legislation and rules on liability. Finally, we are acting in full compliance with all the applicable rules regarding financial management and are confident that the process will stand any future review or audit. I look forward to hearing this debate. I’m sure it is going to be a very lively one. I can assure you that over the last five to six months we have been working 24/7 on this and we need to continue to do this because it is possibly the only way we have out of this pandemic, but not at the cost of reducing safety concerns for citizens. I will never stop saying that. Thank you for your patience.