Reuters reported in January on talks between the EU Commission aka Ursula von der Leyen, on one hand, and Pfizer and partner BioNTech, on the other, against the backdrop of a global oversupply of COVID-19 shots, with Europe sitting on a particularly large surplus that will have to be destroyed at expiry dates.
The talks included the possibility that Pfizer would reduce the 500 million COVID-19 vaccine doses the EU has committed to buy this year in exchange for a higher price.
However, despite the proposed cuts, the US pharmaceutical giant still insists to be paid for the full number of doses originally agreed upon, many of which will never be produced under the new terms.
Pfizer has offered to extend its Covid-19 vaccine contract with the European Union while scaling back deliveries, but still expects the bloc to pay billions of euros for unused doses in the face of a large oversupply in some countries.
On 14 March 2023, Reuters and Nasdaq, following the Financial Times, reported that the parties struck a deal to revise the contracts on the Covid vaccines until 2026 but on different terms : Pfizer reduces the number of doses to be delivered by 40%, their delivery is delayed but, in return, Pfizer wants to be paid for any ordered doses that will never be used.
The amendments on the deal - the full text of which has never been made public - were presented by European health commissioner Stella Kyriakides to member states' health ministers at a closed-door meeting in Brussels last Tuesday. She met opposition from four member states, including Poland.
The ministers of Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Germany accepted without any comment which is very strange especially on the part of the last one, since he has recently admitted on national television that mRNA vaccines cause serious harm. Not as an eventuality but as an established fact.
Assen Medzhidiev, acting health minister of Bulgaria, said his country along with Poland, Hungary and Lithuania were against the proposed deal on excess vaccines. Medzhidiev added that he thought other EU members would also not support the proposed deal in its current form.
"The proposed amendment to the Pfizer deal is clearly unacceptable to us given the critical situation of vaccine oversupply in Bulgaria and the unjustified financial burden on products destined for destruction," Medzhidiev said.
"We call on the Commission to return to the negotiating table taking full account of the given mandate. Until a solution is found, all deliveries should be stopped," he said.
Notwithstanding the opposition of 4 member states as well as the fact that both Fauci, Bill Gates and many more have since a while admitted that the mRNA vaccines are worthless, do not work or variants and have a short duration, the EU commission has already accepted Pfizer BioNtech's terms to the principle,
"Together we have achieved a significant reduction in the number of doses, an extension of our contract well beyond 2023, and security of supply in case more doses are needed," European Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said in a statement. "If we want to change the supplies of vaccines, we need an agreement," Kyriakides added.
In a joint statement after the meeting, officials from Bulgaria, Hungary, Lithuania and Poland said they would not sign the agreement with the proposed changes because they "do not provide a final and fair solution to the problems of the Covid-19 vaccine surplus and do not meet the needs of healthcare systems, the needs of citizens and the financial interests of member states".
Polish Health Minister Adam Niedzielski argued that Pfizer's current proposal would favor Big Pharma, and has called for the secret contract to be published, questioning the role European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen played in negotiating the huge vaccine deal.
An EU watchdog launched an investigation into the negotiation and procurement process late last year after von der Leyen's office refused to produce her personal text messages to Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla during the negotiations for nearly 2 billion vaccine doses, raising allegations of corruption.
The 27-member bloc originally signed a joint contract with Pfizer in 2020, but since the pandemic subsided, demand for vaccines has steadily declined, leaving a glut across the continent. Some countries have been forced to throw away vaccines, with Germany alone throwing away about 36.6 million doses, according to public broadcaster BR24, while others are sitting on large stocks of unused injections, such as Austria, which has about 17.5 million in stock.
Objections from some European Union members suggest that further negotiations and talks may follow before an agreement is reached.

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