Covid Vaccine Contract

The European Union has announced amendments to its COVID vaccine contract with drugmakers Pfizer and BioNTech pertaining to the number of vaccines that will be bought and when they’d be delivered.

In the amended version of the contract, the European Union will be making cuts to the number of vaccines to be purchased, and the delivery deadline has been pushed to 2026.

The announcement of the new agreement was made on the 26th of March after months of extensive talks. EU governments had already been facing pressure from Brussels for a while now to ensure changes to the contract based on the global excess supply of vaccines and the decreased demand for booster doses.

 

Amendments to COVID Vaccine Contract Reflecting Evolving Needs of EU Member States

  • The global surplus of COVID-19 vaccines and low demand led to amendments in the existing contract.
  • EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides states that the amended contract addresses the changing needs of EU member states.
  • The amended contract includes provisions to ensure continued access to vaccines adapted to new variants.
  • Vaccines for new variants will be made available to the European Union once authorized by regulators.

Kyriakides has, in fact, dedicated the past few months to convincing all member states within the European Union to accept the contract amendment negotiated by the European Commission. However, some have shown reluctance in doing so.

Although the names of such countries have not been announced yet, in a statement issued by the European Commission on the 26th of March 2023, they announced that some member states will be opting out of the amended deal. It was also stated that all countries choosing to do so will, therefore, be bound by the existing contract.

Sources from the Commission claim that countries like Hungary and Poland are part of the list of such countries that are choosing to follow the current agreement.

The original contract between the European Union, Pfizer, and BioNTech dates back to May 2021 when it was decided that the union would be purchasing 900 million doses of the vaccine from the drugmakers. The union was given the option to purchase another 900 million doses by the end of 2023 if need be.

The drop in demand from last year has meant that so far, at least half or more of the original 900 million doses have not been delivered. This also means that the EU will not be exercising the option to purchase additional doses. None of the three parties involved have issued a statement regarding the reduction in the size of doses agreed upon so far.

An anonymous source with information about the confidential talks has, however, revealed that of the remaining doses, the contract change will allow the EU to cut the number of doses by one-third, although a fee will have to be paid by all EU member states for each of the canceled doses. The amount that this will be was not revealed by the source.

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