Justifying Emergency Measures to Tackle Covid-19 Crisis in Europe

Since last year in March, I have been following the Covid-19 pandemic crisis closely. In view of the fact that the Covid-crisis continues in Europe as well as other parts of the world, I would be grateful for your response to my open letter below, thanks in advance

By Raymond Saner, Ph.D.

Professor Titular University of Basle, Switzerland 

Director, Centre for Socio-Eco-Nomic Development, Geneva, Switzerland

Accredited by ECOSOC since June 2014 Special Consultative Status to the United Nations

www.diplomacydialogue.org

raymond.saner@unibas.ch
 
Open Letter

Justifying Emergency Measures to Tackle Covid-19 Crisis in Europe

 

Thesis 

The Covid-19 crisis in Europe requires dramatic measures such as declaring it a national and regional emergency justifying emergency measures such as compulsory licensing and requisition of national production facility for emergency production of covid-19 vaccines. 

Current situation 

The pandemic situation in several European countries is dire such as in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Northern Italy and other regions and sub-regions of Europe.

Most experts agree that vaccination is urgently needed for the following reasons:

-Traditional preventive measures are efficient in holding down infections (distancing, hand washing, wearing of masks) but not effective in stopping the spread of the pandemic. 

-The new variants (Brazilian, South African, English) are speeding up infection rates and new variants will most likely emerge the longer the pandemic is not stopped effectively. 

-Treatment of highly infected patients (maximum treatment measure) are reported to cost up to 1 million CHF/USD and these costs do not include the treatment costs of other Covid-19 patients with less life-threatening treatment needs. 

-Health personnel are reported to be insufficient in numbers and affected by overwork and emotional stress making it difficult to imagine that our current health providers can last for several more months in current conditions. 

-Mass vaccination is understood to be the best and only treatment to increase herd immunity and to stop the spread of the virus.

Concern has been raised by representatives of the business community that a longer lasting lock-down and confinement could lead to an increase of bankruptcy, higher unemployment, higher needs for financial support and growing disincentives for entrepreneurs to stay in business in light of the restrictive measures that our authorities need to impose to contain the spread of the virus.

And – the amounts of vaccines needed to urgently vaccinate large parts of the population to reach herd immunity and to prevent infections are not available in sufficient quantities for various reasons.

Question 

In view of the points listed above, why is not possible to call the ongoing pandemic a national security situation and to use compulsory licensing and forced production through requisition of existing laboratories to produce as fast as possible the quantity of vaccines that are needed to avoid a situation where the pandemic continues, the new variants possibly render current vaccines less effective and the available human and financial resources become exhausted and ineffective?

 

Thanks for contributing answers and suggestions to the points and question listed above