Managing pharmaceutical shortages during the COVID pandemic: An exploratory analysis of European collective and national government responses

Prior to the outbreak of the COVID pandemic, pharmaceutical shortages were already recognised as a major policy problem by most, if not all, European governments; and virtually all European national governments today publicise official shortage lists. Policy making in the area has been centred on the national government level, which meant that the understanding, definition, and response to shortages has remained highly heterogeneous. When the advent of the COVID pandemic exacerbated shortages, this situation continued against a background of a weak collective European response. As part of their responses to COVID-shortages, the medicines regulators of European countries expanded the range of products pharmacies could manufacture, process and distribute as well as their procedural authority in issuing, handling and processing prescriptions. While these measures were fairly common across Europe and alleviated some bottlenecks or improved medicine access for some patient groups, other responses were highly individualistic and included export bans of certain medications as well as efforts to draw on veterinary supplies. Our own data analysis of officially recorded shortage data during the first COVID wave (to October 2020) indicates that countries that had prepared for these types of crisis and maintained an active policy stance (e.g. Germany and Norway) were more likely to encounter fewer shortages than others. We also note that there is no direct correlation between officially recorded numbers of shortages and the ways in which national governments responded to these – which indicates that cultural expectations also might have been a significant policy driver.