Pfizer sues Hungary for failed Covid vaccine purchase
December 8th, 2023A pro-government columnist blames EC President von der Leyen for ordering too many Covid vaccines.
A Belgian court held a hearing on the matter on Tuesday and the parties agreed to postpone deliberations until late January next year. Pfizer has sued Hungary for the price of 3 million vaccine shots which Hungary refused to buy last year, referring to the strain on public finances caused by the war in Ukraine. Poland acted similarly and is being sued for the price of 60 million doses. The government’s Office of Communications said the European Commission ordered an exaggerated number of vaccines amid widespread suspicion of corruption. An EC spokesman replied that the Commission agreed with Pfizer on quantities approved by member states and only concluded a framework agreement. The contracts, he said, were signed by the individual governments.
On the Mandiner webpage, Mátyás Kohán remarks that the European Commission has been sued by the New York Times for withholding the e-mails Ms von der Leyen exchanged with Pfizer on the vaccine procurement as well as by Belgian MPs who accuse it of ordering unreasonable quantities. Under such conditions, he finds it revolting of the Commission to leave the member countries in the lurch as if it were not ultimately responsible for the Pfizer contracts. The case, he writes, is a foretaste of a future federal Europe where unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats take decisions at the expense of member states.