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The European Union has secured COVID-19 vaccines in bulk, on behalf of its member states, but pricing has been kept under wraps – so far, thanks to Belgium’s budget chief.
Eva De Bleeker revealed how much European countries pay on Thursday, via a table she posted on Twitter.
The tweet was reportedly written in error by De Bleeker’s communications team in the context of a political argument, and it was quickly deleted, but not before the Dutch-language newspaper. The last news took a screenshot and put it online.
De Bleeker later insisted that the incident would not endanger Belgium’s access to vaccines, despite fears she may have broken contractual terms.
Without surprise, AstraZeneca vaccine: Test data for which indicates moderate efficiency– Appears to be the cheapest, costing EU countries € 1.78 ($ 2.18) per dose. Pfizer / BioNTech’s vaccine, which has been cleared for use in the UK and US and is expected to gain EU approval next week, comes in at over 10 times more: € 12 (14 , $ 70) per serving.
Moderna, which is on Pfizer’s heels, has the most expensive vaccine of the bunch, at $ 18 a dose.
Meanwhile, the Dutch-German Curevac vaccine has been secured at € 10 ($ 12.25) per injection; Johnson & Johnson will cost $ 8.50 per dose, and Sanofi / GSK will cost € 7.56 ($ 9.26) per dose.
The Commission too said On Thursday, he had completed exploratory discussions with the American Novavax on securing at least 100 million doses of his vaccine.
Thanks to the six agreements it has already signed, the EU (just under 450 million inhabitants) has gained potential access to nearly 2 billion doses of vaccine, said the spokesperson for the Stefan de Keersmaecker Commission. Fortune. However, he pointed out that none of them had yet been approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), so “we continue to develop our diverse portfolio of different vaccines”.
“We don’t comment on pricing,” he said. “The prices are covered by strict confidentiality clauses which we respect.”
EU member states are expecting a big decision from the EMA next week. If regulators give the green light to COVID vaccines, countries could start administering vaccines right after Christmas.
The secrecy surrounding the Commission’s negotiations with drugmakers has drawn criticism from many legislators and observers.
“National parliaments and the public should have access to these agreements once concluded,” the European Alliance for Public Health said in a statement. Thursday statement. “If there is a new round of joint procurement negotiations, transparency should be the starting point.”
More health and Big Pharma coverage of Fortune:
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- Here is how much Europe will pay for each COVID-19 vaccine
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