Vaccination in the EU: Ursula von der Leyen “optimistic” on the European campaign

The President of the European Commission said she was “optimistic” on Wednesday on the development of the vaccination campaign, on the eve of an EU summit devoted in particular to the pandemic, despite certain production difficulties in Europe. “I am confident” about the goal of vaccinating 70% of Europeans by the end of the summer, Ursula von der Leyen told the German daily Augsburg General. “But we will only be able to take stock at the end of the summer. It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon, ”she added.

After the tensions of recent weeks on deliveries from pharmaceutical groups, in particular the Anglo-Swedish AstraZeneca, Ursula von der Leyen also wanted to be conciliatory towards them. “Vaccine manufacturers are our partners in this pandemic. They too are facing unequaled challenges, we are constantly confronted with new questions that we manage to settle most of the time amicably, ”added the head of the European executive.

Solutions to increase productivity

AstraZeneca announced on Tuesday evening that it would have to resort to production plants outside Europe to be able to deliver the doses of the Covid-19 vaccine promised to the EU. AstraZeneca “is working to increase productivity in its supply chain in the EU”, and will use “its global capacity to ensure delivery of 180 million doses to the EU in the second half of the year,” a spokesperson said. of the group. The announcement comes after a controversy over AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine shipments to the European Union in the first quarter of 2021, which has sparked tensions between the EU and the pharmaceutical group.

An extraordinary European summit will be held on Thursday by videoconference, devoted in particular to the health crisis. Before the vaccine’s approval by the EU in late January, the Anglo-Swedish group allied with the British University of Oxford had aroused anger among European leaders by announcing that it would not be able to hold its target of delivering 400 million doses to the Union due to insufficient production resources in the EU. The case also caused diplomatic tensions with the United Kingdom, which left the European bloc for good, with Brussels implicitly accusing AstraZeneca of reserving preferential treatment in London to the detriment of the EU.

In addition, in some countries the population is reluctant to accept AstraZeneca vaccines, in particular because of questions about its effectiveness for people over 65 years of age. This is the case in Germany, where an accumulation of Astrazeneca vaccines in particular is observed. While 1.4 million doses have been delivered to regions of the country, only about 239,000 have been injected, said the National Institute for Public Health Surveillance (RKI). The Minister of Health Jens Spahn urged in this context the regions to use the doses at their disposal and to “strongly accelerate” the vaccination campaigns.