It’s a blunder that makes a lot of noise… as far as America. On Thursday 17 December, the Belgian Secretary of State for the Budget, Eva de Bleecker (VLD) published on Twitter the prices of six vaccines anti-Covid-19 pre-purchased by theEuropean Union.
Exceeded by the criticisms of the nationalist opposition (N-VA) which reproached her for the lack of budgeting for vaccines, she thus intended to demonstrate that everything was planned. Except that the prices… were supposed to be kept secret.
Price differences
” Confidentiality [des prix] is a very important obligation ”, recalled a spokesperson for the European executive, quite embarrassed. The laboratories, for their part, remain silent or laconic on the possibility of sanctions for violation of contractual clauses.
The tweet was quickly deleted. But too late! According to the Secretary of State, the EU would therefore spend between € 1.78 per dose of AstraZeneca vaccine and € 14.70 for that of Moderna. These differences are explained by different commercial policies: no profit for AstraZeneca, while others seek maximum profit.
Delivery price
Are these data so reliable? Not sure. Another listing, consulted by the agency Reuters, shows that the tweeted figures are “as-delivered” prices and not the total price.
According to this document, the EU has committed to pay € 15.50 per dose to the American laboratory Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech. Knowing that the United States will pay € 19.50 for the same product, or 21% more… And that the difference, for other brands, could climb to 45%. What outraged the Americans.
Nothing aberrant, in reality: the price depends on the volume. However, the United States had ordered only 100 million Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, three times less than the Europeans.
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