SAINT-HERBLAIN, France (AP) – The French pharmaceutical company Valneva had big news in September: a government contract for 60 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine candidate.
The buyer? The United Kingdom – not the European Union, as might be expected for a company on the shores of the Loire.
“What a real waste,” exclaimed Christelle Morancais, president of the Pays de la Loire regional council, as she tried to turn her head around the missed opportunity. The British, she told The Associated Press, “rolled out the red carpet for this company and helped with funding and drafting. … And we were powerless.”
The UK has now ordered another 40 million doses and options for more at Valneva, which has a plant in Scotland. The EU is still in talks with the company.
Britain’s pattern of investing aggressively and early, while the EU takes a slower and more cautious approach, has been the hallmark of the vaccine race in Europe – providing a window into problems caused by the vaccination by the world’s largest trading bloc.
As with other fast-moving countries, negotiating contracts earlier helped Britain avoid some of the problems with the EU’s 27-country vaccine supply – as when AstraZeneca said it was a production issue become.. Valneva president Franck Grimaud told the Associated Press that Britain would receive vaccine doses earlier because he had signed first.
But the UK has also shown speed and agility in other areas: its regulatory agency has approved vaccines faster than the EU, and its government has experimented with extending the time between shots. – so that it can roll out the first dose faster, so that more people can be protected quickly.
The EU has been more cautious in both areas. While the bloc is still getting vaccines and distributing, it has so far left the UK’s rearview mirror. Britain gave about 15% of the population at least one chance, compared to about 3% in the bloc. It’s not just a matter of pride: the EU has already lost more than 470,000 people out of 450 million to the pandemic and counted others who were not tested before they died.
Diane Wanten, from Alken, Belgium, survived an attack with COVID-19 that put her in intensive care last spring. The 62-year-old is now desperately hoping for shots for herself and her husband, Francesco, who has Parkinson’s. “If there’s a vaccine for me tomorrow, I’ll be in line,” she said.
Instead, “it is Britain that stands head and shoulders above the rest,” Wanten said. “I wonder why things are possible there and not here in Belgium?”
Britain has its own battle: a death toll of 112,000 in a country of 67 million and many people who say the Conservative government should have moved faster to fight the virus. Yet it celebrated the Valneva contract in ratification of its vaccine strategy – and its decision to leave the EU.
“We have supported many horses – no matter where they come from,” said Health Secretary Matt Hancock. “This is an excellent example of what we can achieve together while working as one UK.”
At the same time, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, was in the European Parliament and answered questions about how things could go so wrong in an attempt to show how the EU makes its 27 members stronger.
She admitted that there were EU mistakes – specifically a threat that was eventually withdrawn, of border controls on vaccines from EU member Ireland to Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. But she was adamant that the deliberate pursuit of the bloc would be successful.
“I see it as a marathon in which we just finished the first few kilometers,” she said.
But in Marseille, France, the head of the intensive care unit at La Timone Hospital fears the EU has stumbled at the starting point.
“There was a clear lack of anticipation. Then a lack of doses. Then we did not vaccinate the right people, ”said Dr Julien Carvelli.
When the virus took possession of 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 block did fetch competitive prices, but it took time – and the difference of a few months cost it.
When the EU had a major series with AstraZeneca last month On the company’s announcement that it would be able to deliver only 31 million doses of a promised first group of 80 million, CEO Pascal Soriot pointed out that ‘the UK contract was signed three months before the European vaccine agreement. So with the UK we had three extra months to correct all the errors. ”
Happiness 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 just signed an agreement – but so far it has not mattered as the company is still testing the vaccine.
The EU was also slower in approving vaccines and opted for a longer process that better examined the shots of the European Medicines Agency, rather than giving emergency permission, to ensure greater public confidence. It’s a decision he’s still defending.
As a result, Britain started giving vaccines on December 8, while the EU was only up and running on December 27. It has not caught up since then.
The French Minister for Europe, Clement Beaune, said “Britain has taken enormous risks.”
If it’s true, it’s paid off. Britain’s health chief last week welcomed a new study suggesting that a single dose of his AstraZeneca vaccine for 12 weeks provides strong protection against the virus, saying it supports the government’s much-discussed strategy to delay the second shot. .
Compare that to France, which flirts with extending the time between doses but decides not to do so. Other EU countries sometimes withheld doses to make absolutely sure that someone could get a second chance at a specific time, thus denying a first shot to others.
Several EU countries have also proven to be even more dangerous than the cautious EMA, which approves 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 have decided to keep the AstraZeneca vaccine at 65 and older. Belgium has gone further and restricted use to those under 55, even if that means careful vaccination plans need to change.
However, the EU’s deliberate approach may have prevented other problems. Without a joint strategy, smaller and poorer EU countries could struggle to secure and pay for vaccines. With open borders, divergent national approaches could have led to chaos.
Despite the slow start, von der Leyen’s promise that 70% of adults should be vaccinated by the end of the summer.
For now, Catherine Moureaux, mayor of the Molenbeek municipality in Brussels, is supervising an empty vaccination center. But she does not complain.
“We should not regret the fact that Europe is playing cautiously,” Moureaux said. “I think it’s actually a good thing.”
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Casert reports 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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