EU Vaccine Passports Draw Closer Amid Calls to Speed Rollout
EU Health Chiefs Urged to Up Their Game Amid Vaccination Spats
(Bloomberg) -- European Union health ministers were told Monday they need to ramp up coronavirus vaccinations as the bloc’s executive arm prepares plans for certificates that will ease a return to normality for those who are immunized.
On a video call with ministers, EU Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said that more mass testing and genome sequencing are needed to track mutations. In addition to improvements in detection, the bloc’s health chief warned governments they need to accelerate inoculations to match the increasing pace of deliveries.
“We are expecting the productions and the deliveries to be increasing over the coming weeks or months,” Kyriakides told reporters after the meeting. “We need to ensure vaccines are administered as quickly as possible so that no vaccines go to waste or are unused.”
The push comes as governments across the bloc face increasing pressure from voters and businesses for a roadmap to end lockdowns and restrictions. The European Commission will unveil a proposal this month for a “Digital Green Pass,” which will provide proof that a person has been vaccinated, recovered from Covid-19, or has received a negative test.
Tourism-dependent economies as well as the aviation and hospitality industries are among those that have been pushing for such “vaccination passports.” But countries including France have raised objections on the grounds that the policy may be discriminatory against those not vaccinated and infringe on personal data.
“Trust us,” EU Commissioner Margaritis Schinas told reporters. “We are working 24/7 to ensure the so-called trust standard, to ensure they respect fully our rules on data protection, security and privacy.”
Given the underwhelming EU rollout of vaccines, there may be a broader question about the usefulness of such certificates if a large share of the population hasn’t been inoculated.
The U.S. has administered three times as many population-adjusted doses of coronavirus vaccines than the EU. Officials and health experts say delays allow the virus to mutate to the point that it may become resistant to existing vaccines before countries manage to stop the pandemic.
A separate video call of EU tourism ministers on Monday to discuss vaccine passports was inconclusive, with countries such as Germany and the Netherlands raising the most questions about its use, according to a person familiar with the meeting. The ministers agreed work will continue, without making any concrete decisions, while the commission proposal is pending.
Setbacks
The inoculation rollout in the bloc has been hit by slower procurement and approval of vaccines, as well as a production setback, and initial delays are now being exacerbated by European cacophony over their use, and doubts on the efficacy of the AstraZeneca Plc shot.
Despite approval for the Astra product for all adults by the EU’s drugs regulator, governments and national authorities in countries including Germany have cast reservations over its effectiveness among seniors. While there are indications that they are now changing tack, comments from leaders including France’s Emmanuel Macron have sowed doubt among the public.
On Monday, Markus Soeder -- Bavaria’s premier and a potential chancellor candidate -- called on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s federal government to change Germany’s strategy, which would allow the immediate use of unused Astra doses.
But Steffen Seibert, Merkel’s chief spokesman, said while there is some flexibility in the vaccine program, the government has no plans currently to make any surplus Astra shots available to all.
Last week, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi also urged EU leaders to follow the U.K. example of prioritizing administering the first dose of available vaccines to as many people as possible, rather than adhering to a strict schedule for the second dose.
Finland decided in early February to extend the time between first and second dose to 12 weeks, saying doing so brings about a better immune response and allows more people to get some protection. Hungary is also changing its strategy along these lines to have as many people as possible get a first shot.
“To different extent, but the first dose of vaccines already provides significant protection, at least when it comes to serious complications or deaths,” Hungary’s Chief Medical Officer, Cecilia Muller, told a televised briefing on Monday.
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