Pfizer. Contract disclosure reveals dosage costs and exemption from liability – observer

The European Commission will pay € 15.50 for the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccines, mentioned La Vanguardia newspaper, which obtained the severed portions of the contract signed between the two parties.

The contract, signed on November 20, stipulates that the European Commission be paid € 17.50 (a dose) for the first 100 million doses and € 13.50 (a dose) for the next 100 million doses. Taxes are added to these amounts. The newspaper estimates that the other 100 million doses purchased under this contract cost 15.50 euros per dose (plus taxes).

European Commission You pay 700 million euros up front – About € 3.5 per dose – upon signing the contract, even before a vaccine exists or is approved by the European Medicines Agency.

Meanwhile, the European Commission has closed an agreement of another 300 million doses for this year and another 1.8 million doses for 2022 and 2023, but the details of these agreements are not known.

Pfizer / BioNTech has contracted with the European Commission, which is published by La Vanguardia He has access, Absolves the pharmaceutical company from liability for what may happen in relation to vaccines after they are delivered to Member States.

So, The company is responsible for delay in production or deliveryThe newspaper said, but it leaves the European Commission and member states with liability for potential damages to third parties.

However, this clause is not limited to Pfizer / BioNTech vaccines, and it does not only affect the European Commission and Member States.

Manufacturers will not accept to sign contracts for the sale or dispatch of vaccines without protection from liability, ” Wrote A team of researchers reported to The New England Journal of Medicine in December 2020.

With development, clinical trials, and vaccine production to less than a year, companies are unwilling to make long-term commitments (four years, for example) and countries have an urgent need to make vaccines available to citizens for public health reasons.

Thus, the European Union Accepted Taking responsibility towards third parties in the event of unintended harm to the vaccine, in order to ensure the purchase of doses, Reuters reported as early as July 2020. Made it With the AstraZeneca vaccine, to get doses at a lower cost (€ 2.5), but not with Sanofi, because it’s more expensive (€ 10), the World Economic Forum reported in October. However, the doses of Pfizer and Moderna far exceed these values.

The United States, for its part, has it The law excludes liability claims for products that help control a public health crisisThat is, those who obtain an emergency permit, such as explained CNBC in December.

“Since 2006, the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations, the pharmaceutical industry lobbying group, has publicly demanded that manufacturers receive protection from lawsuits related to vaccine-related adverse effects if they participate in the pandemic response,” according to US law and public health experts wrote.

However, the biggest concern of the article’s authors was, Countries that cannot constitutionally or financially afford the damages As a result of the side effects of vaccines, they are low-income countries. They argue that these countries cannot be without access to vaccines.