Vaccines: "We are paying for 30 years of deindustrialisation in France", deplores Pannier-Runacher

The European vaccination policy has been strongly criticized in recent weeks, especially on the slowness of production and delivery.

"What we are paying, in particular in France, is 30 years of deindustrialization", admitted Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher on Tuesday, in the program "La France Bouge" on Europe 1. 

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While the United States, the United Kingdom or even Israel are vaccinating with a vengeance, Europe is accelerating the pace to catch up.

For several weeks, voices have been rising to criticize European policy on vaccination, in particular to point the finger at slowness in manufacturing and production.

An observation that Agnès Pannier-Runacher also made on Tuesday in the program La France Bouge on Europe 1. "What we are paying, particularly in France, is 30 years of deindustrialisation. We have halved our share. of pharmaceutical production between 2005 and 2015, "lamented the Minister Delegate to the Minister of the Economy, Finance and Recovery, in charge of Industry. 

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"Europe needs a much more ambitious health policy"

The minister notably made the comparison with the United States, which invested very early in the development of a vaccine.

"The United States made a commitment to fund research and development very early on. Europe does not have the equivalent of Barda (the biomedical research and development authority in the United States,

editor's note

), an organization public which finances innovation and industrialization and which has invested more than 10 billion euros, "she cites as an example.  

"Emmanuel Macron wanted to create this instrument in 2019 for the new term of office of the European Commission. We had the foreknowledge that we were missing this instrument at European level," she continued.

Agnès Pannier-Runacher also pushed for a more ambitious health policy at European level.

"The European Commission does not have control over health policy. The 27 European countries need a much more ambitious health policy than before."

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"We are able to meet the vaccination schedule" 

The minister explained the various delays in vaccine deliveries, whether Pfizer or AstraZeneca, by the "complexity" of the "industrialization process".

"You can't just go from laboratory production to production in millions of units. It's true that AstraZeneca is struggling to achieve the expected yields. With each batch of production, they come back telling us for each batch whether they can deliver everything to us or not, ”she admits. 

The Minister still wants to be reassuring about the next deliveries.

"2.5 million doses will be received in February, so I am confident that we will have 4.6 million doses delivered to France in February and March," said the minister.

"We are able to meet the vaccination schedule. We have done 50% more vaccinations than planned in January (1.5 million). We will have hazards, good news and less good news as we go. production process, "she concluded.