Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addressed this morning the World Health Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO), which gathers between 29 November and 1 December for its second-ever special session. The President welcomed the Assembly’s decision to start negotiations towards an international instrument to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. Following the emergence of the Omicron…
EU council president Charles Michel has said the virus exposed “the gaps in our national preparedness.” In a speech at the world health summit, he said, “just last week we had our latest European Council meeting. I have now chaired over 16 meetings where the 27 EU Leaders have addressed COVID-19. And I can tell you…
No one is safe until everyone is safe, according to the Socialist group in the European parliament.It says this was supposed to be the lesson the world drew from the Covid-19 pandemic, especially towards developing countries and low income countries, which have been unable to afford and access vaccines. Reality, unfortunately, looks different, says the group….
Ensuring access to safe and affordable COVID-19 vaccines around the world, and notably for low and middle-income countries, is a priority for the bloc, says the EU. At the health summit in Rome, on 21 May 2021, President von der Leyen announced that ‘Team Europe’ would share with low and middle-income countries at least 100 million doses…
The European Commission has signed a third contract with the pharmaceutical companies BioNTech and Pfizer. It reserves an additional 1.8 billion doses on behalf of all EU Member States, between end 2021 to 2023. It will allow for the purchase of 900 million doses of the current vaccine and of a vaccine adapted to variants,…
Parliament has adopted resolutions assessing the human rights situation in Bolivia, and the COVID-19 situation in Latin America. The COVID-19 pandemic is having a devastating impact on the Latin American continent, MEPs say, expressing their solidarity towards all victims and their families, as well all those affected by the health, economic and social crises. The…
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, there have more than 40 million cases and more than one million deaths around the world. The virus has had an enormous impact on global politics, employment, economics, trade and financial systems, and significantly impacted the global efforts to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), writes Dr….
On Friday, a second contract with a pharmaceutical company entered into force following the contact’s formal signature between Sanofi-GSK and the Commission. The contract will allow all EU Member States to purchase up to 300 million doses of the Sanofi-GSK vaccine. Moreover, Member States may donate reserved doses to lower- and middle-income countries. Sanofi and GSK…
