EU and ASEAN experts convened for the second dialogue on COVID-19 vaccines
On 25 May, EU and ASEAN experts discussed cooperation on COVID-19 vaccines. They discussed in particular the emergence of new variants, the scaling up of manufacturing capacity and the possibilities and challenges of vaccine roll-out.
As two leading regional organisations, the EU and ASEAN share a common interest in pursuing a multilateral approach to an affordable, fair and equitable access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines.
To this end, the EU and ASEAN have repeatedly confirmed their commitment to fair, equitable and affordable access to COVID-19 vaccines. The EU and its Member-States, are the leading supporter of the COVAX Facility, pledging more than €2.47 billion to the COVAX Facility. The Facility aims to provide access to vaccines for every country, in addition to dedicated EU assistance to Southeast Asia (over €800 million “Team Europe” package to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 to ASEAN and a €20 million support programme for WHO activities in the region). The EU has also exported 50% of its vaccine production – over 205 million doses – to 45 countries across the globe, including 3.8 million doses to Singapore and 2.5 million doses to Malaysia.
Both sides also agreed to hold an expert dialogue on vaccine security, which received full support from Foreign Ministers during the 23rd ASEAN-EU Ministerial Meeting on 1 December 2020. Taking place a mere week later, the 1st EU-ASEAN Expert Dialogue on COVID-19 Vaccines covered strategies and practical aspects of vaccine authorisation, production, and distribution and was attended by over 100 experts from Europe and Southeast Asia.
H.E. Igor Driesmans, EU Ambassador to ASEAN said: “Today’s 2nd EU-ASEAN Experts Dialogue on COVID-19 Vaccines presents an opportunity to engage a unique mix of medical specialists, policy practitioners, and industry representatives from BioNTech. This is the latest example of the strong partnership which EU and ASEAN have forged since March 2020 to tackle the COVID-19 crisis”.
H.E. Kung Phoak, Deputy Secretary General of ASEAN for ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community, said: “This cooperative undertaking re-affirms ASEAN’s commitment to Vaccine Security and Self-Reliance which underscores the need to strengthen cooperation and stakeholder efforts through knowledge sharing, capacity building and other developmental actions. On this commitment, allow me to highlight that the Regional Strategy and Action Plan on ASEAN Vaccine Security and Self-Reliance for 2021-2025 has been adopted by the ASEAN Health Ministers on 14 May 2021. This will now further accelerate cooperation in vaccine-related initiatives in the region”.
Dr Sierk Poetting, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of BioNTech, called the scale up of manufacturing capacity a key priority, noting the increase of their own capacities from about 1.3 billion doses to up to 3 billion doses within six months and promising to work further on exploring additional means of doing so, such as through licencing agreements with experienced partners.
A video clip from the expert dialogue will be circulated via social networks.