U.S. and EU supply chains for COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics are closely intertwined. Critical raw materials, drug substance and finished doses are shipped back and forth between the EU and U.S. to enable the production and supply of vaccines for the world. Over the past months, the U.S. and EU have worked closely together to resolve supply chain bottlenecks as part of a regular COVID vaccine supply chain dialogue.

At the EU–U.S. Summit in June, the U.S. and the EU announced a joint COVID-19 Manufacturing and Supply Chain Taskforce to deepen cooperation and resolve issues around expanding vaccine and therapeutics production capacity.

The objective of this Joint Taskforce is to deepen cooperation and identify and resolve issues around expanding vaccine and therapeutics production capacity, including by building new production facilities, maintaining open and secure supply chains, avoiding any unnecessary export restrictions, and encouraging voluntary sharing of know-how and technology on mutually-determined terms.

The Taskforce will focus on the following three priority work strands:

1) Monitor global supply chains for COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics through assessment of global demand and supply of these items and their production and ancillary supplies, and through identification of supply chain bottlenecks:

• The Joint Taskforce intends to support efforts to analyze global vaccine and therapeutics demand and supply, particularly the joint production capacity for vaccines currently authorized in the U.S. and EU.
• The Joint Taskforce intends to support Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) and COVAX supply chain efforts.

2) Address critical supply chain bottlenecks and other disruptive factors for global COVID-19 vaccine and therapeutics production:

• The Joint Taskforce intends to continue to work closely together on critical COVID-19 supply chain issues and bottlenecks, including regular status updates on any potential import–export issues between the U.S. and EU. 
• The Joint Taskforce intends to engage vaccine and therapeutics manufacturers and suppliers to assess supply chain bottlenecks and develop a joint approach to supply chain monitoring for key vaccine inputs, notably disposables and consumables, which are especially constrained globally.

3) Coordinate initiatives to boost global production of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics, and their production and ancillary supplies:

• The Joint Taskforce intends to promote and align initiatives to support additional global manufacturing capacity for vaccines, therapeutics and ancillary supplies.