Without the presence of officials from the Ministry of Health, representatives of Pfizer and Richmond laboratories, both providers of vaccines against Covid-19, present today before a limited group of deputies to give details and “render accounts” regarding the negotiations with Argentina. Since Pfizer they assured that they do not have “no interest in intervening with state assets” So what “at no time was there a request for undue payments or a requirement for intermediaries“.
After 10:30 a.m., the meeting of which only two laboratories participate remotely: Pfizer and Richmond. Meanwhile, according to the president of the lower house Sergio Massa At the beginning of the meeting, later the Covax Fund and Astrazeneca will do the same and announced that the Minister of Health, Carla Vizzotti, will not participate in the meeting, but will speak before a plenary of commissions next week.
In this context, the first to speak was Nicols Vaquer, on behalf of the Pfizer laboratory, who assured that the company “It has no interest in intervening with state assets, this includes natural resources, Central Bank reserves, military assets, strategic assets or cultural assets”.
Likewise, Vaquer assured that they are working to “move forward and pave the way” for a potential agreement with Argentina and he assured that they are working in this regard with the Ministry of Health and the Legal and Technical Secretariat.
“At no time was there a request for improper payments or a requirement of intermediaries from Pfizer“, said the Pfizer representative in another section of his presentation.
Regarding the law passed in Congress, which enables the purchase of vaccines, the representative of Pfizer clarified: “We were not invited to participate in the legislative process, but we had shared the contract and the contractual aspects with the Executive Power and we understand that it is the power of the Government to decide with which vaccine to advance and, if necessary, to make changes to the legal framework or to propose them. ”
It was in this context that Vaquer admitted: “Today the legal framework is not compatible with some of the contractual mechanisms requested by Pfizer. They have to do with indemnity and other issues“.
Vizzotti, absent
Despite the fact that from the environment of the president of the Lower House Sergio Massa, who was in charge of organizing the meeting, had confirmed that the Minister of Health Carla Vizzotti participated, since yesterday, an important reference of the Front of All in Deputies had told this medium: “Vizzotti assured me that he will not go”. And so it was.
In addition to the versions found about Vizzotti’s presence, even before the meeting began behind closed doors but with transmission through official channels, uncertainty reigned. By case, There were doubts about the deputies who would participate in person as well as how the laboratories would be present.
Among the deputies present in the Palace of Congress were, in addition to Massa, Pablo Yedlin, Mximo Kirchner, Cecilia Moreau, Cristina lvarez Rodrguez, Mario Negri, Omar De Marchi, Carmen Polledo, Juan Manuel Lpez, Jos Luis Ramn, Karina Banfi, Soher El Sukaria, Juan Carlos Giordano, Eduardo Bucca, Ana Clara Carrizo, Paola Vessvessian and Claudia Najul.
THE REASON
The meeting took place in response to requests from the bench led by the radical Mario Negri to “shed light” on the negotiations between the Government and the laboratories for the purchase of vaccines, and especially for the doubts they have been expressing about not having reached an agreement with the Pfizer laboratory, Massa summoned for today, in the Delia Parodi Hall of Deputies, representatives of the companies, starting at 10 am.
The call was through a resolution in which it was cited “under the warning of law” laboratories supplying vaccine or in the process of approval to be “held accountable”, including AstraZeneca, Covishield, Covax, Sinopharm y Sputnik V, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson y Pfizer.
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