Ensuring access to safe, effective and affordable COVID-19 vaccines

Europe and the world need a COVID-19 vaccine to address the current pandemic. For a vaccine to meet people’s needs and expectations, it will have to be approved based on robust evidence on safety and efficacy and be affordable for all. Ensuring adequate public communication on the vaccine and swift compensation in the event of safety incident will be crucial to boost vaccination confidence and uphold consumers’ rights.

In this paper, we outline how to roll out the EU Strategy for COVID-19 vaccines in ways that best help consumers. The recommendations below are addressed to the EU institutions, the European Medicines Agency and Member States’ competent authorities.