National vaccine equity is a cornerstone of the success of the Europe’s fight against COVID-19

A fair and equitable allocation of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines contributes to social and health equity and is an opportunity to reduce long standing social disparities in Europe. As current manufacturing and supply challenges undermine the success of the EU joint procurement initiative of COVID-19 vaccines (also known as the EU Vaccines Strategy) and complicate the vaccine rollout across the Union, the prioritization of groups for vaccination within countries while supply is limited becomes ever more important. This is the time for national governments and the European Commission to ensure that EU guidelines and national COVID-19 vaccination plans turn equitable access to vaccination into a tangible reality for all in Europe. This will be achieved by firstly acknowledging, including and prioritizing persons with physical and learning disabilities, mental health problems, refugees and asylum seekers, (undocumented) migrants, people experiencing homelessness, living in poverty, people with addiction, prisoners and minorities (including Roma). Public health...