Answer given by Ms Kyriakides on behalf of the European Commission

2.7.2021

The Commission regrets if vaccine that has been proven to be safe and effective by the European Medicines Agency is not used and administered effectively. As the Member States are sole owners of the vaccine doses purchased, questions about distribution and vaccination plans therefore lie with them.

In the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control’s (ECDC) Technical Report on the ‘Rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in the EU/EEA[1]: challenges and good practices’[2], many Member States indicated they have put in place strategies to limit discarding and wasting unused vaccine doses. Some good practices include vaccinating people from other priority groups, vaccinating healthcare workers or setting up reserve lists of people willing to be vaccinated. Furthermore, ECDC has also published an ‘Overview of the implementation of COVID-19 vaccination strategies and vaccine deployment plans in the EU/EEA’[3] which also summarises the practices Member States have in place to limit wasting vaccine doses.

• [1] EEA European Economic Area
• [2] https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/Rollout-of-COVID-19-vaccinations-in-the-EU-EEA-challenges-good-practice-errata.pdf
• [3] https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/covid-19-overview-vaccination-strategies-deployment-plans-6-may-2021.pdf