Ms Barbara Nolan:

This issue was discussed extensively in the recent past. The EU took a different line and is using donations, including donations to COVAX, which is the World Health Organization's operation for countries that do not have access. The approach of developing manufacturing capacity, for example in Africa, is one whereby we very much want Africa to be able to produce its own vaccines. It is a slightly different way of approaching the problem but it is not necessarily an inferior way of approaching it.

Taking away the patents from the companies that have developed these vaccines is very difficult to do. If we have a new pandemic, a new health scare or a new horrible disease we have to have these companies ready to produce vaccines at short notice in future. There are intellectual property issues. There are all sorts of other issues related to it. I am not an expert in this area myself but this has obviously been looked at extensively. It was felt this was the way to deal with the lack of vaccines. It is a big priority for the Commission. None of us are safe until we are all safe. This is the basic thing about the pandemic. The approach I have mentioned goes down the road of donations in combination with raising the capacity of manufacturing in, for example, Africa to produce vaccines there.