MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION BY THE COMMITTEE ON DEVELOPMENT

Our best shot: with vaccines providing the most promising route out of the pandemic and the threat of new vaccine-resistant variants looming with every new infection, what can the EU do to ensure even access and distribution across the globe?

Submitted by: Izzy van Bemmel, Pien de Boer, Kim de Rjik, Dharmil Salva, Saif Wazir, Lotte Wessels (Chairperson: Lucía Sancho, ES).

The European Youth Parliament,

1. Acknowledging the fact that more than fifty countries have missed the Global Health Organization’s target for vaccination,
2. Underlining the fact that 24 countries report not using their vaccines before they expire,
3. Regretting the current inconsistent distribution of vaccines around the globe,
4. Noting with concern the high prices of the vaccines and the logistic cost of mass vaccination programs, 
5. Pointing out that healthcare workers need instruction about handling requirements, storage protocols, and guidelines for thawing and timing doses for every different vaccine,
6. Taking into consideration that vaccination policy is a competence of national authorities,
7. Aware of the lack of transparency and the increasing corruption regarding vaccines,
8. Deeply concerned by the widely spread fake news concerning side effects of coronavirus vaccine and the anti-vaccination groups,
9. Expressing it’s satisfaction that the European Commission has created a(n):
   • EU Vaccine Strategy ensuring access to vaccines to all Member States,
   • Vaccine sharing mechanism allowing Member States to share EU purchased doses to third countries,
   • Initiative called “Team Europe” enabling local manufacturing of the vaccines in Africa;

1. Invites the Joint Research Center to employ experienced scientists to develop safe and efficient vaccines;
2. Advises the Global Infrastructure Institute to fund the building of laboratories in low-income countries;
3. Suggests the European Commission fund vaccine distribution by air transport;
4. Calls upon the ​​The European Medicines Agency (EMA) to facilitate:
   • training and education of medical students regarding COVID-19 and vaccines against it,
   • internships in lower-income countries after the completion of the training;
5. Expresses its hope for the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations to provide funding for the development of cheaper and more efficient vaccine storage and transportation techniques;
6. Asks the pharmaceutical companies to distribute pamphlets explaining the storage and use of vaccines within their packages specifying the handling requirements, storage protocols and guidelines for thawing and timing doses;
7. Further invites the United Nations to advise its members to revise:
   • their vaccination policies,
   • the handling of vaccine distribution,
   • the necessary amount of vaccines, 
   • the transparency concerning purchases and administrations of vaccines;
8. Asks media platforms to apply stricter fact-checking regulations to confront the increasing misinformation surrounding vaccines;
9. Urges Member States to include workshops and modules concerning vaccination into educational programmes;
10. Calls upon the European Commission to promote initiatives such as Team Europe and the EU strategy on vaccination by creating public infographics on their effectiveness;
11. Further recommends Member States to actively support organisations aiming to reach equal access to vaccination such as COVAX and the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator.