SAINT-HERBLAIN, France (AP) – French pharmaceutical startup Valneva had big news in September: a government contract for 60 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine candidate.
The buyer? The UK – not the European Union, as one might expect for a company on the banks of the Loire.
“What a real waste,” erected Christelle Morancais, president of the Pays de la Loire regional council, as she tried to wrap her head around the missed opportunity. The British, he told The Associated Press, “threw the red carpet at this company, helping with funding and creation. … And we were powerless. “
The UK has now ordered another 40 million doses and has options to make more in Valneva, which has a plant in Scotland. The EU is still in talks with the company.
This pattern of Britain investing aggressively and early, while the EU takes a slower and more cautious approach, has been the hallmark of the vaccination race in Europe and offers a window into the problems that have hampered implementation. of vaccination by the world’s largest commercial bloc.
As with other rapidly advancing countries, contract negotiation has previously helped Britain avoid some of the vaccine supply problems the EU of 27 countries has faced, such as when AstraZeneca said it touched a production problem. Valneva President Franck Grimaud told the AP that Britain will receive vaccine doses sooner because it signed first.
But the UK has also shown speed and agility in other areas: its regulatory agency has authorized vaccines faster than those in the EU and its government has experimented with the possibility of extending the time between shots. – allowing you to deploy the first doses faster so that more people can have some protection quickly.
The EU has been more cautious in both respects. While the block continues to receive and distribute vaccines, unlike much of the world, it has so far remained in the rearview mirror of the UK. Britain has given at least one shot to about 15% of its population, compared to 3% of the bloc. This is not just a matter of pride: the EU has already lost more than 470,000 people out of every 450 million due to the pandemic, and has told other people that they were not tested before they died.
Diane Wanten, from Alken, Belgium, survived a fight with COVID-19 that put her in intensive care last spring. Now 62, she has high hopes of shooting herself and her husband Francesco, who has Parkinson’s. “If there’s a vaccine tomorrow, I’ll be in line,” he said.
Instead, “it’s Britain that raises its head and shoulders above the rest,” Wanten said. “I keep wondering why things are possible there and not here in Belgium?”
Britain has its own struggles – a figure of 112,000 dead in a country of 67 million and many who say the Conservative government should have moved faster to fight the virus. However, he welcomed Valneva’s contract as a validation of his vaccination strategy and his decision to leave the EU.
“We’ve supported a lot of horses, no matter where they come from,” Health Secretary Matt Hancock said. “It’s a great example of what we can achieve together, working as one UK.”
At the same time, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was in the European Parliament answering questions about how things could have gone so badly in a push that was supposed to show how the EU strengthens its 27 members. .
He admitted mistakes by the EU, specifically a threat, which he eventually withdrew, of border controls of vaccines from Ireland, a member of the EU to Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. But he was adamant that the deliberate will of the bloc would be successful.
“I see this as a marathon where we finish the first few miles,” he said.
But in Marseille, France, the head of the intensive care unit at La Timone Hospital fears the EU will run into the starting line.
“There was a clear lack of anticipation. Then, lack of dose. Then we didn’t vaccinate the right people, “said Dr. Julien Carvelli.
When the virus took over the continent a year ago and the race for a vaccine began, the EU trumpeted its size as an asset in the vaccine negotiations. The blog got competitive prices, but it took a while, and the difference of a few months has cost it.
When the EU had a big row with AstraZeneca last month for the company’s announcement, it would only be able to deliver 31 million doses of a promised first batch of 80 million, CEO Pascal Soriot noted that “the UK contract was signed three months before the “European vaccine agreement. So we had an additional three months with the UK to solve all the problems.”
Luck has also played a role. Many vaccine offers were signed before anyone knew which shots would work or come out first, so everyone gambled. The EU signed a contract with Germany-based CureVac in November, while the UK only signed an agreement, but so far this has not mattered as the company is still testing its vaccine.
The EU was also slower in approving vaccines, opting for a longer process that gave vaccines more complete control of the European Medicines Agency, rather than an emergency authorization, to ensure greater public confidence, a decision he still defends.
As a result, Britain began administering vaccines on 8 December, while the EU did not launch until 27 December. It has not been updated since.
France’s European Minister Clement Beaune has said that “Britain has taken huge risks”.
If this is true, it pays off. Last week, the British head of health held a new study suggesting that a single dose of his AstraZeneca vaccine offers strong protection for 12 weeks against the virus, saying it supports the government’s much-discussed strategy of delaying the second taken away.
Compare this to France, which flirted with extending the time between doses but decided not to. Other EU countries have sometimes withheld doses to make sure that a person can get a second shot at a particular time, thus denying a first shot to other people.
Several EU nations have also been shown to be more at risk than the cautious EMA, which approved the AstraZeneca vaccine for use in the EU for all adults., despite some questions about whether there was enough data on its impact on the elderly.
Germany, France and Sweden decided to hold the AstraZeneca vaccine for those over 65 years of age. Belgium went further, restricting use to those under 55, even if that means carefully established vaccination plans will have to be changed.
However, the EU’s deliberate approach may have avoided other problems. Without a joint strategy, the EU’s smallest and poorest nations could have struggled to secure and pay for vaccines. With open borders, divergent national approaches could have caused chaos.
Despite the slow start, von der Leyen’s commitment to vaccinate 70% of the blog’s adults by the end of the summer.
For now, she leaves Catherine Moureaux, mayor of the municipality of Molenbeek in Brussels, overseeing an empty vaccination center. But don’t complain.
“We must not regret the fact that Europe is playing with caution,” Moureaux said. “I actually think that’s good.”
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Casert reported from Brussels. Danica Kirka in London; Frank Jordans and Geir Moulson in Berlin; Mark Carlson and Sam Petrequin in Brussels; Angela Charlton in Paris and Daniel Cole in Marseille, France, contributed to this report.
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