Why is the EU Commission-Astrazeneca contract on Covid vaccines top secret?
The agreement signed between the EU Commission and Astrazeneca for the purchase of 300 million doses of the anti Covid vaccine has been classified. That's why according to Brussels
Reserved.
The contract signed between the EU Commission and Astrazeneca for the purchase of anti Covid vaccines remains confidential. And the content remains inaccessible even to the European Parliament, which complains about the lack of transparency in Brussels on the issue.
All the details.
THE CONTRACT
Let's start from the beginning. On 27 August the EU Commission signed a contract to "purchase 300 million doses of the vaccine produced by AstraZeneca, with an option to purchase an additional 100 million doses to be distributed in proportion to the population". The agreement will make it possible to purchase the vaccine for all EU member states, as well as donate it to low-middle-income countries or redistribute it to other European countries.
TOP SECRET CONTENT
The above is almost all that is known about the agreement. The act is inaccessible. To all. The agreement remains confidential between the Commission and the company that produces the vaccine developed by the University of Oxford, in collaboration with the Italian Irbm.
“For months, the Commission has been engaged in a dialogue with pharmaceutical companies to reach an agreement on the vaccine that should be available, hopefully as soon as possible, for all European citizens. It is certainly anomalous that even today it is impossible to access information regarding the extent of the agreements, the estimated times, the vaccine prices and the liability clauses ", commented Marco Zanni, MEP since 2014 and Parent Company of Identity and Democracy to Start Magazine .
THE EXPLANATIONS OF THE EU COMMISSION
But why so much secrecy? Not for health safety concerns. The reason was explained by the EU Commission itself to La Verità , which tried to ask for access to the documents. In the response signed by the Italian Sandra Gallina, director general of the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety, sent to the newspaper founded and directed by Maurizio Belpietro, Brussels refers to article 4 of regulation 1049/2001. "Documents containing sensitive commercial information, the disclosure of which to the public could compromise the protection of the legitimate interests of companies, are covered by the protection of commercial interests".
"Potential competitors could have access to both business information regarding Astrazeneca and anything else that allows them to gain a competitive advantage," adds Brussels. This "would not only damage Astrazeneca's commercial interests, but also the impartiality of competition".
COMMERCIAL INTERESTS AND WARRANTY CLAUSES
"Obviously there are commercial interests to protect, but it is impossible not to reflect: it would no longer make sense, in a delicate phase like the one we are experiencing, to involve Parliament and its representatives in decisions that will affect the health of citizens and the future of all of Europe? ”, continued Zanni.
But could the secrecy also be justified by agreements in which the EU relieves Astrazeneca from liability for any damages? “I am not in a position to be able to answer you on the basis of the cards, but I sincerely hope that this does not happen. The primary need is to protect the health of citizens: the only beacon that should guide the Commission in the choices it is preparing to make. Living in a state of perennial emergency does not mean sacrificing the achievements made so far in terms of compliance with standards, guarantees and safety ”, added Zanni.
LACK OF TRANSPARENCY: THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT'S COMPLAINT
Access to the content of the contract, as it has been guessed, is also denied to the European Parliament, which also organized a hearing on the subject in September , inviting pharmaceutical companies to speak out on contracts and vaccines.
“Today we have very little information on the terms of the contracts that have been signed by the European Commission and some laboratories. We wanted to have more information on the commitments made by large laboratories, if they will live up to what has been signed and if they will be able to assume their responsibilities. Even the amount of these contracts, we do not know ", lamented the centrist French MEP Pascal Canfin, chairman of the Commission for the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety , in a hearing:" The lack of transparency of these contracts it's obvious".
ASTRAZENECA: ABSENT AT THE AUDITION
But Astrazeneca never showed up at that audition. "Astrazaneca refused to participate and to answer our questions, it is an effective strategy not to show up, but we will fight for answers from this company too," said Canfin.
Answers not yet received.
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT DOES NOT GIVE UP
MEPs, however, are not giving up. “In the coming days in Parliament we will have the opportunity to discuss in the committees in charge with those who deal with the management of the issue of health at the Berlaymont”, said Zanni. “The hope for the Commission's next moves remains the same: take this opportunity to act with common sense, avoiding once again running the risk of not being up to the task that the historical moment requires. This virus has also confronted Brussels with its weaknesses. There is no more time to repeat the mistakes of the past ”, concluded Zanni.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/perche-il-contratto-commissione-ue-astrazeneca-sui-vaccini-anti-covid-e-top-secret/ on Tue, 27 Oct 2020 15:00:05 +0000.