Pfizer president Denies SMS Negotiation Scandal

In an interview last year, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, leaked that she had texted Pfizer’s CEO, Albert Bourla, over the period of a month while the discussions were going on with the European Union regarding a contract for 1.8 billion vaccine doses.

As a result of manufacturing issues by the EU’s previous largest supplier, AstraZeneca, vaccines in Europe distribution fell behind the United States and the United Kingdom.

After the European Commission declined a request to make the messages public, Emily O’Reilly, the European Ombudsman, launched an investigation into the scandal.

An official from Pfizer who took part in the contract discussions vehemently refuted the accusation in a meeting of the European Parliament in Germany earlier this week.

Janine Small, Pfizer’s president of international developed markets, made a statement at the hearing: “As to whether a contract negotiation such as this contract which you referred to, 1.8 billion doses, was negotiated through an SMS, I can categorically tell you that would not be the case.”

She stated she had been engaged in all of the Pfizer/ EU talks for the last 34 months, and that discussions are complicated, comprising of too high a number of people to be carried out by text.

Bourla, who was originally supposed to testify, withdrew last minute, with Small put in her place for the hearing.

An audit revealed that von der Leyen was an intricate part of the initial discussions for the EU contract which was ratified in May of last year.

This was the biggest agreement signed by Europe since the Covid 19 began, calling for up to 1.8 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech between 2022 and 2023.

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