First batch of masks shipped by European Commission

PPE shortage fears have been allayed by the European Commission as it prepares to ship over 1.5 million facemasks to 17 member states, and the UK in the coming days.

The masks will immediately be shipped to various healthcare services to protect those on the frontlines working directly in treating those infected with the virus.

This comes as part of a new Commission-funded project to create 10 million masks to mitigate the immediate consequences of the pandemic and anticipate the needs related to the exit and recovery.

The masks will be delivered to member states and regions in need in weekly instalments of 1.5 million over the coming six weeks.

Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Stella Kyriakides, said: “We are doing everything we can to support the Member States in getting protective equipment to health workers on the frontline. They are Europe's modern-day heroes.

“This is EU solidarity in action to help respond to the needs of European health systems and €3 billion has been mobilised from the EU budget to directly support national efforts. We remain steadfast in our commitment: together we can win this fight.”

These deliveries take place on top of the hundreds of thousands of masks already provided from the rescEU reserve of medical equipment in the past few weeks.

The EC is mobilising €3 billion from the EU budget to directly support member states healthcare system in dealing with the pandemic. €2.7 billion of this will be funnelled into the Emergency Support Instrument and €300 million through the rescue medical equipment capacity.

Additional contributions are possible, and the EC has already launched a pledge backed by both the EU and private contributors to fund the creation and distribution of vaccines across the globe.

This extra funding will allow the EC to support a wide range of initiatives such as:

• Purchasing medical equipment such as ventilators and masks
• Coordinating and supporting the transport of patients to EU member states with available hospital capacity
• Contributing to increasing the rollout and testing across the EU
• Supporting the deployment of the vaccines under the previously mentioned pledge.

The EC hopes to continue providing holistic responses to the pandemic and will continue working with the EU to best deal with the outbreak at large.

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