Europe Says Health Data Can Be Sent to U.S. in Race for Vaccine

(Bloomberg) -- European Union privacy watchdogs said citizens’ health data can be shared with the U.S. in the race to develop a vaccine and treatments for Covid-19.

A panel of EU data protection regulators told the U.S. embassy in Brussels there are exemptions to the bloc’s strict privacy law to allow scientists internationally to share health information.

Solutions that guarantee the continued protection of people’s fundamental rights to data privacy should be favored, the European Data Protection Board said in a statement on Friday. But given the urgency of the situation, some exemptions could be applied, they said.

“The global scientific community is racing against the clock to develop a Covid-19 vaccine or treatment,” Andrea Jelinek, the chairwoman of the group, said in the statement. The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation “offers tools giving the best guarantees for international transfers of health data and is flexible enough to offer faster temporary solutions in the face of the urgent medical situation.”

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The U.K.’s Wellcome Trust has said that about $8 billion would be required this month to fund the development of drugs, vaccines and other tools to fight the virus. It will take considerably more than that to manufacture enough doses to meet global demand and ensure no one is left behind, the organization’s officials told reporters earlier this week.

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