EU’s fight against COVID-19
Ursula von der Leyen’s Commission appears better prepared than EU member states to face the second wave of Covid-19, after learning the lessons of the chaotic and disorganized first days of the pandemic last March. Yesterday, the EU executive signed a joint procurement framework contract with the pharmaceutical company Gilead for the supply of Veklury, the trade name of remdesivir, which is starting to run out in several EU countries after the United States bought up the drug during the summer. At the time, the Commission had urgently intervened in July to buy more than 33,000 doses of remdesivir from Gilead to avoid shortages in European hospitals. Thanks to the joint procurement coordinated by Brussels, member states will now be able to purchase up to 500,000 treatment cycles, with the possibility of increasing the supply further if necessary.
The joint tender on remdesivir is just one of the many launched by the Commission since last March to tackle the pandemic and the shortcomings registered in the member states. Before the summer, the EU executive had launched five tenders for medical supplies (on February 28 gloves and coveralls, on March 17 glasses, visors and masks, ventilators, on March 19 laboratory equipment, including kits for tests, and on June 17 medicines for intensive care units). Unity is strength. And the results are these: several million units of gloves and coveralls; 20 million safety glasses; 12 million face screens; 37 million FFP2 masks; 26 million FFP3 masks; 301 million surgical masks; 110 my fans; 30 lots of laboratory equipment with kits, reagents and machinery.
The joint procurement procedure organized by the Commission for essential medicines for intensive care units is about to be concluded and in the coming days, countries will be able to start placing orders for analgesics, antibiotics, muscle relaxants, anesthetics and other resuscitation drugs. Meanwhile, a sixth joint procurement for the supply of medical equipment for vaccination against Covid-19 has started on September 28th – 19 includes 27 types of equipment such as isothermal containers for the transport of vaccines, waste containers, injection devices, disinfectants. , personal protective equipment and consumables for anesthesia.
Although the Commission has no expertise in the health sector, it is also playing an essential role in the supply of future vaccines to member states. Yesterday it signed an advance purchase agreement with Janssen, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, for the supply of 200 million vaccines against Covid-19, to which 200 million additional doses can be added. This experimental vaccine uses AdVac® technology, which in the past has also made it possible to develop and manufacture the recently approved Ebola vaccine and the experimental ones for Zika, Vrs and HIV. The one with Janssen is the third contract signed for advance purchases of vaccines against Covid-19, after those signed by the Commission with AstraZeneca (300 million doses plus an option for another 100 million) and Sanofi-GSK (300 million doses) . Negotiations continue, after the Commission successfully concluded exploratory talks, with CureVac, BioNTech-Pfizer and Moderna.
By Domenico Greco
