April 2021
DID YOU KNOW?
On 29 March 2021, the Commission hosted the first pan-European matchmaking event with over 300 participating companies from 25 Member States to expand COVID-19 vaccine production capacities across Europe and address bottlenecks.
EDC News: The final hurdle against the Covid-19 pandemic - Vaccination
The COVID-19 Pandemic has brought European economies to a crushing halt. To combat the pandemic the EU funded (e.g.: through the Emergency Support Instrument, European Investment Bank loans) research, production and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. The EU has finalised the Advanced Purchase Agreements between the following companies: BioNTechPfizer (approximately 600 million doses), Astrazeneca (400 million doses), Moderna (300 million doses), Johnson & Johnson: (400 million doses), Curevac (405 million doses) and Sanofi-GSK: (300 million doses). Current production cannot meet the demand for vaccines. To address this issue, the Commission has expanded vaccine production capacity within the EU.
With millions of doses arriving in the EU every month, the final battle against the Coronavirus disease is beginning. In order for the vaccine programme to succeed, the EU laid out plans (COM/2020/680 final) to administer vaccines to over 70% of the EU population by summer 2021. The vaccination procedure, outlined by the EU, is the ticket out of recession and a recovery method for the European economy to get back on its feet.
With the increase of COVID-19 cases and deaths, the EU called Members states up the roll out of the vaccines (COM/2021/35 final).
To ensure safeguarding lives, the Commission proposes the Digital Green Certificate in order to ensure freedom of movement and safety of vaccinated people. On 17 March 2021, the Commission adopted the legislative proposal establishing a common framework for the Digital Green Certificate (COM/2021/130 final)
Further Information:
- Policies:
- Emergency Support Instrument: The Emergency Support Instrument helps Member States respond to the coronavirus pandemic by addressing needs in a strategic and coordinated manner at European level.
- Covid-19: Digital Green certificates: The Digital Green Certificate will be accepted in all EU Member States. It will help to ensure that restrictions currently in place can be lifted in a coordinated manner.
- The EU’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic
- Recovery Plan for Europe
- Digital Green Certificate: To be able to allow vaccinated individuals the freedom to travel.
- Vaccine updates: Current Vaccine updates concerning the early supply of Pfizer doses
- Statistics:
- Vaccination progress in Europe: Various charts showing the progress per EU Member State on their vaccination.
- Vaccine Race: Which EU country is leading in terms of vaccinations.
- News & Updates:
- Timeline of EU Actions for Coronavirus in 2021
- Timeline of EU Actions for Coronavirus in 2021