Inventing New Tools: The European Vaccines Strategy in the Covid-19 Pandemic

At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, the first reaction of the EU Member States was to fall back into national-led policies, closing borders and retracting from a common solution. The main aim of this chapter is to understand the major turnaround that was the implementation of an EU-wide vaccine strategy, even though the first signs were not encouraging, and despite the fact that the EU has only a “supporting competence” in the health care area. Step by step, the authors describe the way in which such common strategy was thought of, adopted, and implemented, highlighting the difficulties coming from within the Union and its administrative complexity, but also from the volatile environment of an exceptional international health crisis. Ultimately, even though the EU seemed to be initially overwhelmed, it became a central player throughout the process by striking a complex balance with international organisations, Member States, pharmaceutical laboratories and other private actors in the health sector.