Pharmaceutical companies Pfizer/Biotech and Moderna imposed significantly higher vaccine prices on Germany in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, documents obtained by German media show.
Germany spent €13.1 billion on vaccines, according to public broadcasters NDR and WDR and daily SZ, who cite a confidential order overview detailing how many vaccines the German government commissioned from which producer and at what price.
Documents show that the government ordered 39 billion vaccine doses from Biontech/Pfizer at around €15.50 each in December 2020. Nine months later, the price had risen to €23.20 apiece. The price for Moderna vaccines also grew by more than 50% within three months.
For Wolf-Dieter Ludwig, chair of the German Medical Association’s Medicines Committee, this shows that the companies made use of a situation where countries desperately needed vaccines by imposing a higher price.
“For me, this is dubious since, looking at the sales revenues, you could have stuck with the original price,” he told broadcaster NDR.
Pfizer responded to the media reports, with a company spokesperson telling NDR that “you should not rely on information that cannot be verified.” However, the amount Germany spent on vaccines that was reported by the three media was confirmed by the German Health Ministry.
The new media reports are one of the few pieces of information that have so far become public on COVID-19 vaccine procurement in the EU.
Despite repeated calls from lawmakers and civil society, the European Commission and the pharmaceutical companies that provided the bloc with vaccines have so far only released the contracts struck between them in censored form.
(Julia Dahm | EURACTIV.de)
Source: euractiv.com
