Health officials from EU member states such as Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Finland, the Netherlands and the Baltic states met on Wednesday to discuss revising contracts with newcrown vaccine manufacturers such as PFE. Us due to oversupply and rising costs of vaccines with short storage periods.
In recent weeks, some EU member states have appealed to the European Commission, the EU's executive body, and then Adam niedzielski, Poland's health minister, organized the virtual conference.
Some countries are seeking to revise the so-called "advance purchase agreements" with manufacturers because of the reduced demand for vaccines and the pressure on governments' budgets due to the impact of the Russian Ukrainian conflict and the cost of hosting refugees.
At the end of last month, the prime ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania jointly wrote to European Commission President von delaine, saying that adjusting the agreement with suppliers may give member states the right to "re phase, suspend or completely cancel the delivery of vaccines with short shelf life".
Bulgaria's Ministry of Health said there was a need for an "open dialogue" with the European Commission and pharmaceutical companies on vaccine supply. Bulgaria has the lowest vaccination rate in the EU.
The European Commission has facilitated a large number of new coronavirus vaccine contracts
The European Commission took the lead in providing vaccines to the European Union and other European countries, facilitated transactions with PFE. US / biontech and Moderna (mRNA. US), and ensured the provision of billions of doses of new coronavirus vaccines at the time of the worst epidemic. But many countries, including some with low vaccination rates, are now scrambling to cut costs because of falling demand for vaccines.
Romania is one of the least vaccinated countries in the EU. Faced with oversupply and shortage of stocks, Romania has begun to sell the remaining vaccines to Germany and Hungary. Hungary did not participate in the latest round of joint purchases to reduce its excess supply.
Poland triggered a "force majeure" clause last month because it failed to renegotiate an agreement with suppliers and refused to accept payment for new supplies or additional vaccine doses.
The European Commission said on May 13 that it had reached an agreement with biontech and Pfizer to adjust the delivery schedule according to the conditions of Member States. The European Commission said that the vaccines originally scheduled to be delivered in June and throughout the summer will now be delivered in September and autumn and winter, but did not provide a copy of the agreement.
Pfizer and biontech both said they were working with the committee to address the needs of the growing COVID-19. Biontech said on Friday that the two companies could not comment on potential or ongoing discussions.
Efforts to change the terms of the agreement have highlighted that the 27 nation group has entered a new stage in the fight against the COVID-19. Although demand began to decline only a year after countries scrambled to obtain vaccine supplies, many EU member states are still far from reaching the 70% vaccination rate target.
Covax, the global vaccine program supported by the World Health Organization (who), said it had sufficient doses of vaccine for countries to achieve vaccination goals, but delivery was slowing as the focus shifted from supply to overcoming distribution barriers, hesitation and other factors that hindered promotion.