VIDEO of the event “Vaccination: whose responsibility is the jab?” (23.2.2021)

While putting severe pressure on healthcare systems worldwide and causing a global economic meltdown, the COVID-19 pandemic has created several challenges. One of the core ones is the question of responsibility for vaccination. The European Parliament raised this issue in discussion with the representatives of the pharmaceutical industry and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in September 2020, as well as by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in the Resolution “Covid-19 vaccines: ethical, legal and practical considerations” in January 2021.

As of today, the EMA gave a positive assessment that lead to the “conditional authorisation” for the marketing of the Pfizer, the Moderna and Astra Zeneca vaccines on the territory of the European Union, but the permanent authorization will be given by 31.12.2023 for Pfizer, by 30.06.2024 for Moderna and submission of the study report is expected in March 2024 for Astra Zeneca. What does this mean for the pharmaceutical companies, the governments, and the people? How does the “conditional authorisation” relate to the social or political pressure resulting from a health emergency? And what consequences are we seeing for keeping restrictions of freedoms in force?

The tendency is for questions on the responsibility to be raised by people’s representatives – MPs and MEPs – but we hear no substantial discussion on the subject on either the political or governmental level, nor in the media. Yet, answering this question is crucial to gaining the trust of people who doubt whether to vaccinate or not. Therefore, the event’s goal was to address the question of responsibility for the Covid-19 vaccination from multiple perspectives.

Speakers: Tanja Porčnik, co-founder and president of the Visio Institute, Slovenia; Rahel Zibner, Project Manager for Spain, Italy & Portugal at Friedrich Naumann Foundation; Arsen Zhumadilov, General Manager at State Enterprise Medical Procurement of Ukraine; Nataliya Gumenyuk, Co-Founder at Public Interest Journalism Lab

Moderator: Maryna Yaroshevych, “Promote Ukraine”

Organizers: VoxUkraine & Promote Ukraine

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