The COVID-19 pandemic may have ended a long time ago, but the European Commission is still ordering 146 million doses of coronavirus vaccines, Berliner Zeitung reports.
The costs, however, remain opaque. This was also the case during the 2020 "Pfizer-gate" scandal, which has yet to be fully clarified,
– the investigative blog named Tuzfalcsoport (Firewall Brigade) highlights.
Although the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared the COVID-19 pandemic over in May 2023, the EU continues to prepare for potential emergencies. According to the Berlin-based newspaper, the European Commission has now signed a new framework agreement with Moderna, allowing for the supply of up to 146 million doses of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines - without a minimum purchase requirement. The contract, signed by the EU’s crisis management authority, HERA, on behalf of 17 countries, is valid for up to four years. In addition to 15 EU member states, non-EU countries are also participating in the joint procurement, bringing the total to 37 nations.
However, it remains unclear how much each dose will cost, as the European Commission has not disclosed this information. The transparency of vaccine procurement continues to be a contentious issue in European debates,
– Tuzfalcsoport writes.
Vaccine procurement since 2020 remains unpublished
The procurement of coronavirus vaccines in 2020 has remained opaque ever since. Back then, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reached an agreement with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla for the delivery of 1.8 billion vaccine doses - an estimated €35 billion deal. However, the contract was negotiated privately, without a bidding process, via text messages and phone calls.
To this day, it remains unclear precisely how much money - EU taxpayers' money - was spent. The European Commission has confirmed the existence of the text messages but insists that no contract negotiations took place in them. However, the messages were not saved,
– the investigative blog recalls.
Cover photo: EC President Ursula von der Leyen (Photo: AFP)
