European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said today she saw "a light at the end of the tunnel" for the pandemic, as the first vaccines could reach the European Union this year, but asked for discipline.
"There is light at the end of the tunnel, but we must continue to be disciplined until we have reached a level of vaccination sufficient to eradicate this virus," said Ursula von der Leyen, speaking in a videoconference from the Conference of Specialized Bodies in Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union (EU), organized by the German presidency of the Union.
On the day that marks the first year of Ursula von der Leyen's term, marked by the health and economic crisis generated by the Covid-19 pandemic, the leader of the community executive noted that, «if all goes well, the first citizens to receiving the vaccine may already be vaccinated before the end of December”.
"And this will be a big step towards a normal life," he stressed.
Even so, he recalled that "the crisis of the new coronavirus is far from over", so he requested respect for the containment measures.
So far, the European Commission has signed six contracts with pharmaceutical companies to secure vaccines for Europe when they prove effective and safe: AstraZeneca (300 million doses), Sanofi-GSK (300 million), Johnson & Johnson (200 million) and BioNTech and Pfizer (300 million), CureVac (405 million) and Moderna (160 million doses).
In all, according to the leader of the community executive, "the Commission has secured nearly two billion doses of a potential vaccine against the virus."
"We signed a contract with six pharmaceutical companies that are working with the most promising vaccines and, so far, things are going well, and they are all producing here in Europe", he highlighted.
Vaccines guaranteed by the European Commission are expected to be made available at the same time to all EU Member States, with the amount allocated to each country based on population.
The purchase is also made by each country.
"Member States are then working on their vaccination plans and logistics for delivering tens of millions of vaccine doses," noted Ursula von der Leyen, noting that "it is not the vaccine that is important, it is vaccination plans'.
The leader of the community executive argued that "uncertainty continues, but in a different way than in March and than in the first wave."
"Today we know there is a way out and the good news is that we have the tools to fight this crisis," he said.
Despite the optimistic scenario, Ursula von der Leyen acknowledged that "Europe is being hit hard by the second wave", with some regions "in confinement to try to save lives, despite all the consequences this has for workers and companies".
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