Parliament’s Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee calls for a fact-based approach to the EU vaccines rollout to avoid disinformation.
In order to respond to European citizens’ growing concerns, data on the number of vaccine doses supplied and on the vaccination schedules for each country must be transparent and provided on a monthly basis until the summer, say MEPs of the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee (ENVI). ENVI Chair Pascal Canfin (Renew, FR) said: “The European Parliament is asking for exhaustive data to be published every month on the number of vaccines allocated to each member state. Only once we have a clear picture, can we build trust, address challenges linked to delays in supply and the speed at which vaccines are being administered, and fight back the growing wave of uncertainty and disinformation in Europe.” This information is currently not comprehensive enough, as evidenced by a compilation of existing national data provided by national governments. Only a limited number of countries have communicated their vaccination figures, MEPs stress. Following requests from the ENVI committee, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), has launched its dashboard on the vaccination situation in member states. This overview should be complemented by additional elements, such as the projected delivery of vaccines, MEPs ask.
On 12 January 2021, MEPs quizzed the Commission on the latest developments regarding COVID-19 vaccines. During the last plenary debate in January, MEPs expressed broad support for the common EU approach to fighting the pandemic and called for complete transparency regarding contracts and deployment of COVID-19 vaccines. The EP press service organises a webinar for media on “Vaccines – A united response to beat the COVID-19 virus”, on 8 February, 09:45 – 10:45, with key MEPs to discuss the EU vaccine strategy. To register, email [email protected]. On Wednesday 10 February, MEPs will debate in plenary the state of play of the EU’s vaccination strategy with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
