Trust and Solidarity in European Union Vaccine Policy

The European Union’s 27 member countries adopted a joint approach to authorizing and procuring COVID-19 vaccines. What can this experience teach us about solidarity, trust, and the practical ways these values play a role in policy? We synthesize recent research that compares COVID-19 vaccine policies across jurisdictions, documenting two global political trends: a vastly enlarged scope of conflict surrounding vaccine policies, and the very small, technocratic, and often opaque process of vaccine policymaking. The EU’s supranational approach to COVID-19 vaccine policy delivered solidarity but did not bolster public trust. The Vaccines Strategy and European Medicines Agency approvals process curtailed vaccine nationalism, but neither the EU’s nor member states’ policy actions were sufficient to counterbalance declines in public trust, with significant consequences for future trust in vaccines, vaccination, and science.