European Commission Keeps Mum On Talks Regarding Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine Contract: Report
- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen remains silent on her dealings with Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE) regarding the EU's COVID-19 vaccine contract is hurting public trust.
- "We need to hear what went on, otherwise it's going to drag on," Reuters quoted European Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly's interview, pointing to the EU public prosecutor's investigation of the bloc's acquisition of vaccines and the European parliament's COVID committee's plans to hold more hearings on the issue. "So it just won't go away."
- In an interview with the New York Times in April 2021, von der Leyen shared that she had exchanged texts with Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla for a month while the contract was under negotiation.
- A Pfizer executive "categorically" ruled out that the pharma giant's chief executive agreed on the European COVID-19 contract via mobile phone text messages.
- The report further noted that O'Reilly said the Commission had "stonewalled" her request for it to publish text messages exchanged by von der Leyen and Bourla in the months before signing the contract between Pfizer and BioNTech SE (NASDAQ: BNTX) to buy up to 1.8 billion doses.
- A Commission spokesperson told Reuters that it had concluded last June and informed the ombudsman that text messages did not qualify as an EU document eligible for freedom of information requests under transparency rules.
- "To ensure greater certainty, the Commission is working on issuing guidance on modern communication tools such as text and instant messages," a spokesperson told Reuters.
- Price Action: PFE stock is up 0.57% at $40.41, and BNTX shares are up 0.34% at $127.91 on the last check Thursday.
- Photo Via Wikimedia Commons
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