Spain supports European Union Advance Purchase Agreement of vaccines against COVID-19

The minister acknowledged the need to invest in the capacity to produce vaccines, while research is still under way, and advocated "guaranteeing transparency in the whole acquisition process".

At the meeting, held by video-conference, Salvador Illa expressed a need to create "a clear regulatory framework" for the acquisition and award of contracts, as well as for the content of the final contract, which must be signed by the Member States. To that end, he expressed his support for the European Commission guaranteeing that the process is carried out in line with the rules applicable to public EU contracts and those of Member States.

Salvador Illa also stressed the need to guarantee the fair distribution of vaccines. "The criteria for fair distribution must include the epidemiological situation of each country", he underlined.

He also advocated that the Agreement should include safeguard clauses for those cases in which the vaccine cannot be used, because it receives a negative assessment from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) or because more effective vaccines are discovered outside of the Agreement.

Finally, Salvador Illa advocated joint work within the European framework as "the only way to speed up development and guarantee the availability of a vaccine".

Non official translation