(Bloomberg) — The Polish government stepped up its battle with Pfizer Inc. to significantly scale back its contract for supplies of Covid-19 vaccines that the country no longer needs post-pandemic.
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In a letter to Pfizer shareholders dated Tuesday, Health Minister Adam Niedzielski said the plans by Pfizer to deliver hundreds of millions vaccines to the European Union is “utterly pointless,” because most of them will have to be destroyed due to short shelf life. He added that poor countries in other regions are not interested in donations.
Poland is leading a broader EU push to renegotiate the vaccine contracts as demand for shots wanes and budgets come under strain from the fallout of the war in Ukraine and the costs of accommodating refugees. The latest proposal from Pfizer includes a dose reduction, but it still requires a cancellation fee — half the price of a dose, according to the letter.
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“Instead of showing solidarity, the company still wants to make money from funds allocated by EU member states solely for the protection of public health,” Niedzielski said in the letter seen by Bloomberg News. “I am sorry to conclude that the company which we all considered for a long time as part of the solution to health-care challenges is now becoming a part of the problem.”
When the pandemic broke out, the EU’s executive arm spearheaded a vaccine provision for the bloc and other EU countries, leading to deals with Pfizer, BioNTech SE and Moderna Inc. that assured billions of shots at its height. But many nations, including some with low vaccination rates, are now scrambling to cut costs as demand for vaccines falls off.
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“Today we live in a completely different reality than 2 years ago,” Niedzielski said. “Global enterprises such as Pfizer must be aware of this and take active Corporate Social Responsibility in running their business.”
