Europe's Vaccine Paradox: From Supply to Demand Issues

摘要

The collective action on vaccine procurement has attracted much criticism, but not necessarily for the right reasons. It successfully protected the internal market and EU values from vaccine nationalism. BioNTech became a European success story, and EU vaccine deliveries and vaccination are gaining speed. Yet, the demand side to vaccines brings the role of the European sectoral regulator to the forefront. Public health is one of those policy areas in which competences remained almost exclusively with EU member states. With the exception of common safety concerns, including protection of the internal market, EU actions in public health are supportive in nature (as is the case of the EU's health strategy that complements member states' national health services and medical care).