Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-04-12-Speech-2-314"
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"en.20050412.30.2-314"2
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".
Madam President, as the Commissioner has said, some countries have no plans and many countries have inadequate plans. It is therefore right that he has come here this evening to discuss this issue with us, and we welcome what he said and the plans he is making. We will certainly give him all the support we can.
Last year Europe and the world were lucky. SARS and avian flu did not develop into pandemics. In the last century we were not so lucky. In 1918, in 1957, and in 1968, with Asian flu, Spanish flu, and with Hong Kong flu, we were less lucky. A million died in each of the latter two and 50 million died in 1918, a quarter of a million in my country, the United Kingdom.
Now Dr Omi of the World Health Organisation has warned that another pandemic is imminent. For months we have been calling for urgent action in Parliament to prepare for this, and yet, certainly amongst Member States, we have not seen the sense of urgency that we have looked for. For some six months or more, the United States has been stockpiling antiviral drugs and it has placed orders for four million vaccines. Italy and France have both ordered two million vaccines. Canada, Australia and Japan have all been stockpiling. As Dr Omi rightly says, although we cannot know the strain, even the existing vaccines and drugs will mitigate and protect the vulnerable, particularly children and the elderly, and key workers.
But what about the other countries? The United Kingdom is not buying any vaccines. It has announced that is not its policy. It is only planning to protect 20% of our population with antivirals. And yet London, a global hub for travel, for migration, and for disease, has inadequate plans for protection through drugs and quarantine. My fears are twofold: that the pandemic will strike first from Asia to Africa or to low-income countries ill-equipped to respond; then move rapidly on into Europe, and that panic in countries that are ill-prepared could lead to international crime and violence within the European Union, including in cities such as London where 80% of people are expected to be unprotected.
We have worked hard in Parliament, along with the Commission and Council, and passed in a single reading my report establishing the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. We have approved an excellent choice of director in Zsuzsanna Jakab. We now need to be assured that the first great challenge to this collaborative centre will be met in terms of rapid alert as Dr Omi says, antiviral and vaccine planning and placement, port and airport precautions and quarantine facilities. We need to work closely with the WHO, with the authorities in China, Vietnam and other affected countries in Asia, with international NGOs, with the pharmaceutical industry and with vulnerable countries in the ACP and elsewhere.
I shall be attending the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly next week. I want to take with me a message of help and support, but also assurance that Europe has taken note, is acting and will help the world protect itself from this pandemic."@en1
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"Bowis,"1
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