According to information reported by the website Euractive on December 5, Albert Bourla refused for the second time to appear before the European Parliament’s Special Committee on Covid-19. Since the boss of Pfizer will not explain himself on the contracts for the purchase of vaccines during the epidemic, the MEP Michèle Rivasi calls for sanctioning the representatives of the pharmaceutical laboratory.
Reminder on the work of the European Parliament’s Special Committee on Covid-19
The Special Commission on Covid-19 (known as the Covi Commission), responsible for examining the EU’s response to the pandemic, was set up on March 10. It is chaired by Belgian MEP Kathleen Van Brempt and four other vice-presidents, including French MP Michèle Rivasi.
The level of transparency surrounding anti-Covid-19 vaccine contracts and the number of doses ordered are topics that the Covi Commission wishes to address. A job made difficult, since a first request for a hearing from Albert Bourla had already been refused by the latter on October 10. It was Janine Small, regional president of Pfizer and responsible for the development of international markets, who presented herself in place of her superior.
Read also: Hearing of MEPs on anti-Covid vaccines: many questions, few answers from Pfizer “
Between Bourla and the Covi Commission, the showdown continues
To justify his absence from the hearing, Albert Bourla wrote in a letter addressed to Europeans: ” Since the October hearing, we have no further information to share with the committee, so we respectfully decline the invitation to revisit these matters. ».
In a tweet published Monday, December 5, the president of the Covi Commission Kathleen Van Brempt denounced a new dodge on her part: “ As chair of the committee, I deeply regret Dr. Bourla’s refusal. The EU has spent a lot of public funds on the production and purchase of vaccines. Parliament has the right to obtain full transparency on the modalities of these expenditures and the preliminary negotiations which justified them. “. And to hammer: “The failure of the European Commission and Pfizer to address this lack of transparency shows a disregard for the role of the European Parliament. » “Mr. Bourla obviously has more time for award ceremonies », mocked MEP Virginie Joron on the social network.
What also arouse the anger of Michèle Rivasi, elected from the Group of the Greens in the Strasbourg hemicycle. In a series of tweets, also published on December 5, she indicates that she proposed to the European Parliament that “ Pfizer representatives be banned from parliament, as has been the case for Monsanto before » in case of refusal of a second invitation. According to her, her proposal would have been accepted. Also, the MEP hopes that ” the European Parliament will apply its decision immediately and will sanction Pfizer for this repeated, unjustified and disrespectful refusal to answer our questions [celles de la Commission Covi] ».
SMS case: the CEO of Pfizer, Mr. Bourla, has just refused to appear before the Covid Commission for the second time.
After his first refusal, I proposed that he be invited back to explain himself to the deputies, as the CEOs of other laboratories have done. 1/3 https://t.co/rzrczB3ENJ— Michele Rivasi ???? (@MicheleRivasi) December 5, 2022
In the event that he refused our invitation a second time, I had proposed – and this was validated – that the representatives of Pfizer be banned from entering the European Parliament, as was the case for Monsanto previously. 2/3
— Michele Rivasi ???? (@MicheleRivasi) December 5, 2022
I hope that the European Parliament will implement its decision immediately and sanction Pfizer for this repeated, unjustified and disrespectful refusal to answer our questions. 3/3@kvanbrempt @JuttaPaulusRLP
— Michele Rivasi ???? (@MicheleRivasi) December 5, 2022
Many mysteries still surround the orders for mRNA vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech placed with the Commission, which also refused to communicate the prices charged. A case all the more controversial since in April 2021, the New York Times revealed the existence of an exchange of text messages between Ursula von der Leyen and the CEO of Pfizer, still kept secret to this day, in the context of negotiations around a contract to purchase 1.8 billion doses of Pfizer vaccine /BioNTech against Covid-19.
In August 2021, the controversy redoubled in scope after the revelations of the Financial Times, which had had access to the sales contracts concluded by Brussels. We then learned that the pharmaceutical laboratory had obtained a 25% price increase on this order dating from May 2021. Each dose of Pfizer vaccine thus went from 15.5 euros to 19.5 euros per unit.
These are all elements that led the European Public Prosecutor’s Office to open an investigation on Friday, October 14, into the purchase of vaccines by the EU.