Challenges of the Knowledge Society (May 2021)
NEGOTIATING OUR HEALTH: THE EU PUBLIC POLICIES ON COVID-19 VACCINATION AND THE ASTRA ZENECA ADVANCE PURCHASE AGREEMENT
Abstract
The ongoing covid-19 pandemic has taken us into unchartered territories in many a field: medical, legal, social and constitutional. The EU has been actively pursuing, within its range of competencies, a broad policy to combat this unprecedented health crisis, which included negotiating and financing on behalf of its Member States the development of a viable vaccine by multiple pharmaceutical companies. These complex agreements and financing schemes have resulted in the purchase and distribution to the EU countries of vaccine doses according to a quota based on the size of the population. Given the novelty of the circumstances, the very short time in which these vaccines have been developed and tested, some vaccines have sparkled public controversies, such as the one produced by Astra Zeneca. This article endeavors to offer a brief analysis of the Advance Purchase Agreement signed with Astra Zeneca, recently made public by the EU Commission, with special reference to the clauses which, in our opinion, might have offered the private contracting company too much discretion in compliance with its contractual obligations. The analysis will be preceded by an outline of the legal framework for the APA agreements concluded by the European Commission and some considerations on the legal formants – the complex interplay of the legal, political and economic interests which affect the management of the covid crisis on European and international level. The conclusions of this article will set forth the necessity of more transparency in negotiating this kind of agreements with massive impact on our health and the need of a more realistic approach to the policy of vaccination, based on the specificity of each country.
