United in the fight against this unprecedented pandemic, EFPIA and Vaccines Europe support the Commission’s efforts for a coordinated EU approach to ensure that vaccines developed to combat COVID-19 are accessible to citizens across Europe as quickly as possible. 

COVID-19 anywhere is a threat to people everywhere. Medical innovation, through the development of safe and effective vaccines, is the only permanent route out from under the shadow of the coronavirus. This global pandemic requires a global response and all stakeholders involved, including multilateral organizations, NGOs, WHO and EU institutions and country leaders need to align on allocation principles to ensure equitable access for COVID-19 vaccines on a National, European and Global scale. EFPIA and Vaccines Europe welcome the lead role the EU and Member States have played to ensure global access to COVID-19 vaccines through the WHO ACT-Accelerator initiative. 

EFPIA and Vaccines Europe are committed to working with European and global stakeholders, continuing the dialogue on mechanisms for prioritisation of viable vaccine candidates, funding and risk sharing mechanisms to upscale global manufacturing capacity, equitable allocation of approved vaccines, appropriate liability protection and accelerated regulatory mechanisms and facilitating advanced purchase agreements.

While this dialogue continues, industry scientists, researchers and manufacturing experts continue to work around the clock to discover and develop treatments and vaccines for use in the fight against COVID-19 and upscale manufacturing capacity to meet the demand for billions of doses of vaccines for citizens around the world.