Greens/EFA call for more European cooperation & unity

Today, Members of the European Parliament will debate the global vaccination strategy from 08:30 onwards. The Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament are calling for more coordination among EU countries and support a European approach. The Greens/EFA group calls on the European Commission to build trust with more transparency and advocates for international equitable access to vaccines and a global vaccination strategy. A temporary waiver of intellectual property rights should facilitate access to vaccines for poorer countries and help contain the pandemic worldwide.    

Tilly Metz MEP, Greens/EFA Member of the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, comments:
 
"A European approach to fighting the pandemic is the correct way out of this crisis. National go-it-alone approaches are detrimental to the common European strategy. Nationally ordered vaccines will only be delivered after those purchased by the European Union. We are calling for focus on European coordination, transparency, effectiveness and safety.

"Transparency creates trust; we call on the European Commission to fully disclose the contracts and publish the liability rules. Vaccine manufacturers must not dodge their responsibilities, regular liability rules must apply, as with vaccines for other illnesses. We demand more transparency about the conditions of approval, availability, use of public money and clinical data.

"Globally, no one is safe until everyone is safe. We support the global vaccination initiative COVAX and call for the European Union to support the waiver of intellectual property rights for COVID 19 products and treatments for the duration of the pandemic, as requested by South Africa and India at the international level, so that access to vaccines does not depend on the economic weight of countries."

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The debate can be followed here.