Conditions for access to the COVID-19 vaccine for low- and middle-income countries

14.1.2021

Question for written answer  E-000207/2021
to the Commission
Rule 138
Javi López (S&D)

The Commission’s procurement of COVID-19 vaccines with a view to ensuring there are enough doses to vaccinate the entire population of the Union is very good news. The EU’s efforts and its contributions to finance medical research to find the vaccine must result in universal, fair and equitable access, and not only for European citizens.

The Union, made up as it is of 27 Member States, enjoys bargaining power vis-à-vis the pharmaceutical companies that middle and low income countries such as those in Latin America and the Caribbean cannot necessarily match.

What can the Commission do to ensure that low- and middle-income countries, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean, benefit from the same conditions of access to vaccines as have been offered to the Union, in particular by European businesses or companies which received European funding for vaccine research?