A Belgian court will hold a hearing on 17 May where it will be decided whether Belgian or EU prosecutors are competent to continue the 'Pfizergate' probe involving European Commission boss Ursula von der Leyen, according to a document seen by Euractiv.
The European Council and Parliament reached a provisional agreement on Thursday (1 February) on legislation aimed at ensuring the smooth functioning of the single market during crises.
COVID-19 vaccines have saved 1.4 million lives in Europe, a new study by the World Health Organisation (WHO) released on Tuesday (16 January) showed.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) recommend targeting people at risk in vaccination campaigns against respiratory viruses as the cold season is starting.
Controversial topics, little time and closed doors - talks are moving slowly and significant disagreements are yet to be negotiated among the World Health Organisation (WHO) members on a Pandemic Accord.
A Belgian citizen has filed a second complaint against European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, this time with the EU Court in Luxembourg, in connection with the controversial Pfizer-gate affair.
The negotiations that led to the European Commission brokering the controversial COVID-19 vaccine contracts with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer remain "a business secret", the chairman of Pfizer France told French Senators during a hearing on Wednesday (29 March).
European Medicines Agency (EMA) chief Emer Cooke assured that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and side effects are still being monitored, in response to criticism from vaccine-sceptic MEPs.
EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides insisted EU executive chief Ursula von der Leyen did not have any role whatsoever in negotiating COVID vaccine contracts, during a heated hearing before the European Parliament's Special Committee on COVID-19 on Monday (27 March).
Bulgaria, Poland, Lithuania, and Hungary have demanded that the European Commission renegotiate the conditions for the supply of COVID vaccines manufactured by Pfizer. The health ministers of the four countries tabled a joint request during an EU Council meeting on 14 March.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said on Tuesday (28 February) the agency has assessed that a leak from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, likely caused the COVID-19 pandemic.
The New York Times is suing the European Commission for failing to make public the text messages exchanged between Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the CEO of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The pharmaceutical industry disproportionately influenced EU institutions resulting in harm to public health, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report from two health NGOs.
Of all the tools Commission proposed to facilitate travel during the pandemic, only EU Digital COVID Certificate was effective, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) found.
Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg on Saturday (7 January) discouraged non-essential trips to China, the world's most populous nation, as it struggles with a surge in Covid cases after relaxing strict virus restrictions.
EU countries are "strongly encouraged" to demand Covid tests from passengers coming from China, a crisis meeting of European Union experts decided Wednesday (4 January).
As COVID-19 cases in mainland China rise, the EU's health agency said on Tuesday (3 January) that the increase is unlikely to cause a spike in infections across the bloc.
China's state media played down the severity on 3 January of the COVID-19 wave, with its scientists expected to give a briefing to the World Health Organization on the evolution of the virus later in the day.
EU countries will meet next week to discuss a joint response to travellers from China amid concern over the country's explosion of Covid cases, incoming EU presidency holder Sweden announced Saturday (31 December).
France, Britain and Spain on 30 December joined a growing list of nations imposing Covid tests on travelers from China, and the World Health Organization pressed Beijing to be more forthcoming on real-time data amid an explosion of cases there.
The EU should consider immediately scaling up genomic sequencing of COVID-19 infections and monitoring of wastewater, including from airports, to detect any new variants given the virus surge in China, the bloc's health chief said.
Chinese state-media said COVID-19 testing requirements imposed by several places around the world in response to a surging wave of infections were "discriminatory", in the clearest pushback yet against restrictions that are slowing down its re-opening.
Top health officials from the European Union were holding talks on Thursday (29 December) to try to coordinate very different views on how to respond to China's decision to lift its COVID-19 restrictions amid a wave of infections there.
Chinese hospitals were under intense pressure as a surge of COVID-19 infections strained medical resources, while the scale of the outbreak and doubts over official data prompted some countries to consider new travel rules on Chinese visitors.
