EU's Vaccine Rollout Criticized for Being Slowed by Lobbying Efforts

Strategic Insights -

According to a new book by the inventors of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine, lobbyists in Brussels waged a campaign against the rollout of the jab, claiming it was insufficiently European. They allegedly told politicians that they should not order doses of the injection because BioNTech, a German company, had teamed up with US behemoth Pfizer rather than working with another European company. This claim is said to have been made despite the fact that Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine had already been shown to be highly effective in clinical trials.

Key Takeaways:

  • Lobbyists in Brussels claimed that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was insufficiently European because BioNTech had partnered with Pfizer, a US company.
  • Opponents of the vaccine allegedly told politicians that they should not order doses of the injection because "50 cents will always end up in the US" if they did.
  • The European Union only ordered doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine last November, nearly five months after the UK and US, and instead favored vaccines developed by French company Sanofi and German business CureVac.
  • BioNTech's founders, Dr Ugur Sahin and Dr Özlem Türec, claim that the EU's lack of support during the development of the jab left the company "on our own".
  • The EU's strategy is said to have forced businesses into damaging rivalry, according to BioNTech's senior vice president of operations, Oliver Henning.
  • The EU took longer than other countries to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, with the European Medicines Agency citing the need for more evidence and safety checks.
  • BioNTech's vice president of global regulatory affairs, Constanze Blume, rejects claims that the EU's procedure required more evidence and safety checks, saying that the company only had one clinical trial and one-or-two manufacturing sites.

Statistics:

  • [euro]375m (£320m) - the amount of grant provided by Germany to BioNTech last September.
  • 5 months - the time between the UK and US ordering doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and the EU.
  • 50-50% - the alleged split of the profit from the vaccine between BioNTech and Pfizer.

Sources:

  • "The Vaccine" book, written by Joe Miller in collaboration with BioNTech's founders Dr Ugur Sahin and Dr Özlem Türec.
  • Twitter, German politician Karl Lauterbach's tweet criticizing the EU's vaccine rollout.
  • Reuters news article, "EU vaccine rollout hampered by lobbying efforts: book".