Vaccination essential for post-pandemic recovery – Costa

Portugal’s prime minister, António Costa, said on Wednesday that the “success of the vaccination process” is the “first condition” for the economic and social recovery of the European Union after the Covid-19 pandemic, while also calling for “international solidarity” with Africa.

“The first condition of the recovery is the success of the vaccination process”, he said, speaking in the European Parliament in Brussels, presenting the priorities of the Portuguese presidency of the Council of the EU.

He stressed that Portugal is taking this lead “at a decisive moment to set in motion, implement and put into practice the historic decisions” adopted in recent months by the EU. He also said that it was “indispensable” that the EU continue to “work in coordination”.

He said that “only together will we overcome the virus, restoring full freedom of movement and the full potential of the internal market, but also the indispensable international solidarity for the eradication of the pandemic around the globe, whether in our neighbourhood, in Africa or Latin America”.

Since the end of December, the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccination process has been underway in the European Union. In the middle of this month, the Moderna vaccine also began to be distributed.

However, the vaccination process is marked by several criticisms related to insufficient production for all EU countries, which has led to delays in distribution and individual purchases by some member states, such as Germany.

By the end of the month, the European Medicines Agency is expected to give the ‘green light’ to the AstraZeneca vaccine with Oxford University against Covid-19.

Speaking at the European parliament, António Costa described the Covid-19 pandemic as the “greatest post-war challenge” for the EU.

“In less than a year, we have had families torn apart by the loss of almost half a million lives and we have been drawn into a devastating economic and social crisis in all 27 member states”, he told reporters.

Prime Minister António Costa, as the president of the Council of the EU, discussed today with the European parliament in Brussels the priorities of the Portuguese presidency for the first half of the year.

Less than a week after welcoming to Lisbon a delegation from the college of the European Commission led by president Ursula von der Leyen last Friday and the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, at the launch of the presidency earlier this month, Costa has completed the round of institutional discussions on the six-month programme with the European parliament.