After a hangover from Pfizer and AstraZeneca’s late deliveries, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen entered direct negotiations with Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer / BioNTech, in March 2021. The original negotiating team was not involved.
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Talks between van von der Leyen led to a contract for 900 million vaccine doses for 2022 and ’23, the largest agreement signed by the Commission.
The Pfizer vaccine is therefore also the most important in Europe. In order to learn more about this contract, the Court of Auditors asked von der Leyen for information on these negotiations, which were partly conducted by SMS. But the regulator received nothing. The European Ombudsman has already requested sms, even without result.
According to the Commission, they have not been preserved. “This amounts to maladministration,” says the Ombudsman.
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