Borissov’s statement prompted Brussels to explain that apples are not pears – World

“Prices are rising with terrible force. Pfizer was 12 euros, then it became 15.50 euros, now for 2022 and 2023 the European Union contracts are signed for 900 million vaccines, but now at a price of 19.50 euros.”

These words of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov on Sunday made journalists from abroad ask the regular on several occasions on Monday. briefing of the European Commission what it is about, is this price true, what are these hundreds of millions of doses.

In front of children in the village of Topolovo, he added “as an experienced person” that “in the new budgets, financiers have to bet on much, much bigger vaccine buffers”, because that is about 18 billion euros in his accounts.

At the briefing in Brussels, of course, they refused to comment on the 19.50 euros in question, mentioned by Borissov. The price of a dose from any company is subject to trade secrets and is not publicly disclosed, spokesmen and EU commissioners answered, including questions in the European Parliament. The logic of both the buyer and the seller is that in this way they can achieve optimal conditions for themselves.

Until now, only the Belgian Secretary of State for Budget, Eva de Bleiker, has afforded such a thing. At the end of 2020, she posted on her Twitter account a small table with the prices agreed for her country (and the price is the same under a contract for everyone in the EU), but very quickly the message was deleted. It showed that a dose from Pfizer costs 12 euros, and from Moderna – 18 euros.

Borissov’s video from Sunday, in which he indicates the price, is currently available on the server of the Council of Ministers. The practice of the government’s press service to save key elements of the prime minister’s speeches has become more frequent, and this is exactly the phrase missing in the written version of the announcement.

• “Prime Minister Boyko Borissov pointed out that the fight against the infection is still ongoing and preparations are already underway at European level for vaccination next year, but at higher prices. Therefore, according to the prime minister, the new budgets should include they are also betting on bigger vaccine buffers. ”

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But at least two journalists asked Eric Mamer, a commission spokesman, on Monday about the price and the number of vaccines. His colleague Stefan de Keersmecker, a spokesman for health, food safety and transport, also responded.

Their explanation, in short, is that the agreed doses are twice as much – nearly 2 billion units, and the price is difficult to make comparisons with previous contracts, because the conditions are completely different.

“We need to prepare for the next phases of the pandemic – in 2022 and beyond, when we need a second booster dose, and be ready for options – the ones we know now and those that will come in the future. In addition. we will have to vaccinate children and teenagers at some point, “said Stefan de Keersmecker.

“We are also building on the work done in the HERA incubator and the conclusions that we will probably need around 2 billion doses to deal with these challenges, and on that basis we have started contract negotiations. with the consent of the member states, we have moved forward (towards signing a treaty) “, he added.

HERA is an EC plan to prepare for bioprotection against COVID-19 variants, presented on 17 February 2021. It is to move to a permanent structure with the same acronym and called the European Agency for Emergency Preparedness and Response. The HERA incubator currently includes collaboration with researchers, biotechnology companies, manufacturers and public authorities in the EU and worldwide to detect new variants of the virus, provide incentives for the development of new and adapted vaccines, and accelerate the approval process for these vaccines. and increasing production capacity.

• Die Welt wrote last week about negotiations on 1.8 billion doses, and an EU source told AFP that it was a “second-generation” vaccine that is expected to be effective against many more options. The contract will be for 900 million plus an option for even more, with a much stronger commitment from the manufacturer to deliver them on time, produced in Europe and distributed with priority to Europe.

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When reporters on Monday demanded an explanation as to whether the new contract would actually cost more, spokesman Eric Mamer said:

• “I would advise not to compare contracts that are not of the same order or will not be the same. The first one you are talking about is the ARA, a preliminary purchase agreement under which the commission, on behalf of the member states, makes an advance payment and invests in companies to help them develop vaccines. The forthcoming contracts will be of a different nature, so they will not be compared correctly. ”

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That is why Borissov’s talk about 12 and 19 euros per dose is not correct. The first price was formed after at least 100m euros were invested in BionTech (Pfizer’s partner) on behalf of EU countries, including Bulgaria, last year, before the German company received other financial support from EU programs to develop mRNA technology. . The second price is in a typical commercial contract, in which there is no calculation of advance investments and payments.

The billions mentioned by the prime minister on Sunday are for the whole EU if the parties decide that they want to vaccinate only with this product. The specific agreements for each shipment are the responsibility of the nation states and they can – as Bulgaria has already done – give up some of them. Thus, the expenditure for the Bulgarian budget should be completely different.

With an EU population of 447 million, these 900 million doses are enough to vaccinate everyone from newborns to the oldest in each of the next two years. How long the protection of vaccines will last, whether it will work against new variants of the coronavirus and whether only one booster dose or a new vaccination campaign will be needed, is decided by each country according to its national characteristics.

If Bulgaria decides to take all the 13.95 million doses of Pfizer it deserves, they would be enough to protect the entire population without resorting to any other product – for example the one-time vaccine of “Jansen”, which is expected in April. At the price indicated by Borissov, this would be a cost of 272 million euros, or 544 million levs. For an economy of about BGN 120 billion and given the damage that vaccination saves, this cost should not be dramatic for financiers.

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