2023-05-26 16:05:14
Austria has been able to reduce its delivery volume for doses of the Corona vaccination from Biontech/Pfizer by more than half. This is the result of the EU contract negotiations with the manufacturers, the Ministry of Health announced on Friday followingnoon. Austria will thus receive 4.1 million doses of vaccine in the next three years, instead of nine million doses this year. The reason for the renegotiations was the sharp drop in demand in all member states.
Austria had exerted massive pressure so that the contracts were renegotiated, the broadcast said. The European Commission has now reached an agreement with vaccine manufacturer Biontech/Pfizer through the Agency for Crisis Preparedness and Response to Public Health Emergencies (HERA). 24 of the 27 member states approved the treaty changes.
In the previous contracts, nine million cans would have been delivered this year. In addition, 800,000 cans will be delivered this year, which were already ordered for 2022. They were not part of the renegotiation of the contracts. The deliveries will extend to the next three years due to the change in the contracts, i.e. until the end of 2025. Vaccination doses that have already been ordered can be exchanged for the latest available vaccine, the ministry informed.
The EU Commission and Biontech/Pfizer have agreed not to disclose the financial details of the new contract. The Ministry of Health expects savings in the high double-digit millions. “According to our experts, the new contracts correspond to future needs, especially for booster vaccinations,” explained Health Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens).
The fact that even higher savings were not possible is “due to the previous contracts, which were concluded under enormous pressure at the beginning of the pandemic and would be completely unacceptable today”. However, Rauch described the joint procurement of vaccines as a “successful EU project”. The European Union has supported the rapid development and production of the Covid-19 vaccines with massive investments. The manufacturers were therefore able to develop the vaccines in a short time. The Member States largely relieved them of the high economic risk.
Thanks to the agreement between the EU Commission and Biontech/Pfizer, the purchase of originally agreed cans can now be converted into optional orders, provided that the respective EU countries pay a fee for this. The EU Commission did not say how many fewer vaccine doses now have to be purchased. The EU committed to purchasing an initial 900 million doses in 2021, with an option for a further 900 million doses. Several countries recently criticized the deal because the need for a vaccine is no longer so great and many doses have to be destroyed.
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