No ‘side deals’ for vaccines, EU Commission says

Accusations against “bilateral contracts,” or side deals for vaccines made by the European Commission are false, a European Commission representative said on Tuesday.

There are no contracts between individual EU countries and manufacturers; “Parallel contracts are not possible – do read article seven of the agreements,” Sandra Gallina, deputy director-general at the European Commission’s Health and Food Safety Directorate told the European Parliament.

The accusations about ‘side contracts’ were made by the the health minister of Portugal, which holds the six-month EU presidency. The Minister said on Friday that any side deals for COVID-19 vaccines by EU countries should not undermine orders for all EU Member States.

Germany has also reportedly agreed with BioNTech to supply 30 million additional doses in a side deal, although the timing of the delivery is unclear.

Cyprus is in discussions with Israel about a bilateral arrangement as well.

But Gallina categorically denied that such deals could be made. “Either you did an advanced purchase agreement last year, or now it’s a bit too late to go around buying doses,” she said.  She also insisted that  pharmaceutical companies have given assurances that EU vaccine doses will be given priority.

The European Commission would not comment on the potential deals to be made either by Germany or  Cyprus.

Stella Kyriakides, health and food safety commissioner, has announced that she will send a letter to EU health ministers asking them to be transparent on how they are complying with the provisions of the EU vaccines strategy.

On Friday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that European Union member states will not be permitted to negotiate separate vaccine deals with pharmaceutical companies, in parallel to the bloc’s efforts as a whole.

She told reporters at the EU’s headquarters in Brussels that the 27-member bloc would continue to work as one to secure vaccine doses from suppliers.