"The number of intensive care patients is increasing at an alarming rate, and we urgently need to take countermeasures”, said the health spokesperson of the largest political group in the European Parliament Dr med. Peter Liese (EPP, Christian Democrats) on Thursday. "We must proceed intelligently and reduce risk contacts, so that the incidence rate falls as quickly as possible, preferably below 50 per 100.000 per week. Only then targeted openings will be possible. We need to do this by focusing more than before on the areas where most infections occur, which means private indoor meetings and workplaces. Schools should not be completely closed as far as possible, but the concepts must become much more intelligent than before," Liese said. "Above all, we need to accelerate the pace of vaccination in the European Union. I am optimistic that things will get better in the next few weeks as BioNTech/Pfizer in particular will be able to deliver significantly more vaccine thanks to the new plant in Marburg, which will soon be running at full capacity, and in a few days we will also have the vaccine from Johnson&Johnson, with which we will only have to vaccinate once. Nevertheless, from my point of view, things have to move faster, so I propose the following five concrete points:
"We should not underestimate the danger posed by the new variants of the coronavirus in any case," said the health policy spokesman for the largest group in the European Parliament (EPP, Christian Democrats), Dr. med. Peter Liese to journalists in Brussels on Wednesday. "It is necessary to continue to be careful and follow the rules. The discussion not paying attention to the incidence rate alone, but also considering other things, is dangerous. Currently, in all EU countries, high incidence rates still lead to a high hospital occupancy rate and also rising death rates. In the view of some people, I may have been too pessimistic as far as the danger of the disease is concerned. However, I have to say that I was still too optimistic. In fall, I never expected that there would be such a bad second wave and that we would be running into a dramatic third wave by now. The coronavirus is even more dangerous than I had imagined. That’s why it is even more regrettable that the vaccination campaigns are not proceeding fast enough," said Liese.
"I still consider AstraZeneca's vaccine to be a good vaccine. Covid-19 is very dangerous, even for younger people, and the risk of contracting Covid-19 and dying is in any case greater than the risk of side effects for the affected population. But sinus vein thrombosis, while rare, is clearly more common after vaccination with AstraZeneca than in the average population and should be taken seriously. This is especially true for younger people. They can be treated, but they are life-threatening. It is good that the EMA has now finally recognized the link between the rare cerebral venous thrombosis and the vaccine. From the point of view of many experts and also from my personal point of view, this was overdue. The side effects are rare, but that the accumulation is a coincidence is simply very unlikely. The experts in several member states have acted faster and more consequently here. Today's decision of the EMA is unsatisfactory because there is no clear link yet between specific risk factors or the age. Based on the available information, I believe that the practice in some other member states, meaning to offer a different vaccination to younger people, is correct. Firstly, the cases occur in larger numbers in those age groups, and secondly, the risk of dying from Covid-19 is lower for younger people compared to those over 60. Despite all the criticism of the vaccine supply in Europe, we can consider ourselves lucky to have alternatives.
"Of course, the vaccine procurement in the European Union could have been better. The European People’s Party (EPP) already asked for the creation of a European institution for the procurement of vaccines and other pharmaceuticals in March last year and one reason why the US is faster in vaccination is that this institution existed already since 2006 which means not Donald Trump has created it but George W. Bush,” said the health spokesperson of the largest political group in the European Parliament (EPP, Christian Democrats), Dr med. Peter Liese.
“However, the most important reason for the different situation in the US and the UK compared to the European Union is that Europe is supplying the world and the US has an export ban. This has been introduced by Donald Trump but unfortunately, Joe Biden has not lifted it but even extended the respective rule until June. In this case, Biden is behaving like Trump and we should not let him go with this. Especially on the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine the difference is significant. The US production is only supplying the US and Europe serves the world. The BioNTech vaccine that is produced in Germany and filled and finished in Puurs, Belgium, is going not only to the whole EU but also to the rest of the world including Mexico and Canada. If the US only supply themselves and we supply the world, this cannot work out. Even worse is the case in the UK because we know that significant amounts of the AstraZeneca vaccine went from the continent to the UK, for example, from the plant in Dessau IDT Biologika in Dessau, Germany, and still the company is not ready to give vaccine that is produced in the UK to supply the European Union. They even wanted to export from the European Union to third countries. It was more than right that Italy blocked this export and in my view, this should have only been the first step. When we speak about mistakes of the European Commission, the main mistake was that the export control mechanism was not introduced earlier. This could have avoided the delivery of AstraZeneca vaccine from the continent to the United Kingdom. With BioNTech/Pfizer the case is different, because they live up to their commitment to the European Union, but still I think we should consider a more active approach here. The WTO rules allow an export ban, when it is necessary to protect people’s health and this is definitely the case here,” the EPP-MEP and doctor stated.