Recital 13

(13)The European Parliament in its resolution of 8 March 2011 and the Council in its Conclusions of 13 September 2010 stressed the need to introduce a common procedure for the joint procurement of medical countermeasures, and in particular of pandemic vaccines, to allow Member States, on a voluntary basis, to benefit from such group purchases, e.g. by obtaining advantageous prices and order flexibility with regard to a given product. With regard to pandemic vaccines, in the context of limited production capacities at global level, such a procedure would be undertaken with the aim of enabling more equitable access to vaccines for the Member States involved, to help them to better meet the vaccination needs of their citizens, in line with vaccination policies in the Member States.