The European Commission announced it has successfully renegotiated its highly criticized COVID-19 vaccine procurement deal with Pfizer on Friday, May 26th, reducing the number of doses still to be delivered this year to appease member states who were concerned about wasting millions of taxpayers’ funds. However, as Politico reported, no further details were disclosed, which only adds to the growing, shadowy scandal around the entire procurement process.
While the exact details and financial terms of the new contract were not made available to the public, the Commission did say it managed to lower the number of doses yet to be delivered to the EU by Pfizer in 2023. However, authorities refused to elaborate as to what the new figure is.
The only other thing we know is that within the new agreement, the EU retained the prerogative to buy the remainder of the original 450 million Pfizer doses, spread out over the next four years. In addition, the EU will have to pay extra for this option—similar to a “cancellation fee,” which would, in practice, increase the price per dose that countries will have to pay.
While the new deal is touted by the Commission as a success, the way it was announced immediately raised questions. Not only did the announcement omit the new number of vaccines EU taxpayers will have to pay for under the binding agreement, but this great achievement was not even included in the Commission’s daily briefing—only “tucked away in an emailed news roundup,” Politico mentions.
In recent months, calls to renegotiate the original Pfizer deal were getting progressively louder from nine EU member states, led by Poland, who are complaining about an oversupply of COVID-19 vaccines and having to throw out expired doses—the equivalent of pouring millions of euros down the drain.
Within the original procurement contract, closed in 2021, the European Commission pledged to buy a total of 1.1 billion doses just from Pfizer on behalf of member states, worth around €21.5 billion, with a delivery schedule spread out until the end of 2023. But with the pandemic practically over for more than a year now, many countries are reluctant to pay for their share of the remaining 450 million vaccine doses, which would only end up being disposed of.
Leading the group of countries lobbying for contract renegotiation, Poland went as far as to flat-out refuse to buy any more vaccine doses (citing its oversupply of 25 million), and even sent a letter to all Pfizer stakeholders to ask for a new deal while trying to appeal to the company’s “corporate social responsibility.”
Now, even with a “cancellation fee,” it appears Europe will not have to buy all of the remaining vaccines. Yet, it’s hard to ignore the Commission’s secrecy in the matter. Especially since much of the original deal is also shrouded in mystery, as Commission President Ursula von der Leyen still refuses to disclose her text messages partly used to negotiate the agreement with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, despite the European ombudsman’s repeated calls for her to do so.
