Spain will prioritise the European Pharmaceutical Strategy during its next EU presidency in 2023

The European Pharmaceutical Strategy will be one of the political priorities during the Spanish Presidency of the European Union in 2023. This has been advanced by the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, during her speech at the ceremony of delivery of the Medals of the General Council of Pharmacists and of the 2021 Panorama Awards that have been held in Madrid.

Darias has highlighted the growing dimension of Pharmacy at the European level and has defended the need for a Europe with autonomy and sufficiency in strategic issues such as the production of certain critical products in health emergencies.

Along the same lines, as explained by Darias, the Commission and the presidencies that will precede the Spanish one will advance in successive legislative packages “for which the Ministry of Health has top-level experts in the different working groups.”

Vaccinate, vaccinate and vaccinate

The Minister of Health has also recognized the important role that the pharmaceutical industry has played in the development of vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, “the centre of the cause that explains that COVID admissions to the ICU and fatality rates they have nothing to do with the figures from a year ago. “

Darias recalled the milestone that has been able to develop vaccines in less than a year since the WHO declared the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 and recalled the good data harvested by the Vaccination Strategy in Spain , with almost the 90% of the population with complete regimen, the reinforcement campaign at a good pace and the imminent beginning of the administration of paediatric doses in children between 5 and 11 years old .

“The magisterial formula is called vaccinate, vaccinate and vaccinate,” stressed the Minister of Health, who also recalled the importance not only of vaccinating Spanish citizens but of collaborating so that vaccines reach countries with fewer resources.

In this sense, he recalled how Spain, in addition to administering more than 77 million doses within its borders, has also been able to donate more than 40 million doses, mainly to countries in Latin America and Africa.

“Europe can and must vaccinate European citizens while donating vaccines to the rest of the world,” reiterated the Minister of Health, who recalled that “solidarity is not a word, but a question of political will.”

Fight against COVID-19

On the other hand, the Minister of Health has recognized the role of the pharmaceutical sector in the fight against the pandemic caused by COVID-19. Thus, he thanked the role played by both experts and pharmaceutical research institutions and that of ordinary pharmacies, the pharmacists, technicians and assistants who opened their offices “during the worst times of the pandemic” and that ” they helped to raise awareness, to dispense medicines and to sell masks in the worst moments, when they barely had methacrylate screens to protect themselves. “

The minister has valued the “extraordinary work of great health value” that the Pharmacy professionals did during the toughest moments of the pandemic, “protecting the most important thing: the health of our citizens.”

Along the same lines, Darias has ensured that the pharmacy reinforces public health and the Welfare State, both due to its territorial capillarity and its proximity, as well as its innovative vocation “because research and development of new drugs is essential to improve and strengthen health care “.

For this reason, it has meant the present and future of the Hospital and Primary Care Pharmacy in our country and its prominent role in the face of threats to Public Health and in the fight against antibiotic resistance.