A Brussels court on April 1 ordered Poland and Romania to pay the remaining balance for COVID-19 vaccines ordered from the pharmaceutical group Pfizer/BioNTech, worth EUR 1.3 billion and EUR 600 million, respectively, according to a court statement quoted by AFP, as reported by local news agency Agerpres.

US pharmaceutical company Pfizer sued the two countries in the fall of 2023 to enforce these purchase contracts, which Poland and Romania refused to fully fulfil following the end of the pandemic.

In this civil dispute, the Brussels Court of First Instance estimated that the two countries had failed to demonstrate that ''Pfizer would abuse its right by pursuing the execution of contractual obligations."

In 2021, the European Commission negotiated a broad agreement with Pfizer and its partner, after which individual European Union countries chose to participate by placing specific orders. In May 2021, Romania opted for the maximal value of the contract, but a low vaccination rate (among the lowest in the European Union) resulted in much lower necessary. 

Critics say the framework deal signed by the EC lacked transparency and imposed legally binding obligations requiring member states to pay for doses even as pandemic needs declined, resulting in millions of unwanted coronavirus jabs being discarded. 

A Politico analysis showed in December 2023 that more than 200 million unwanted coronavirus jabs have been dumped. Romania wasted 0.5 doses per capita, less than 12 of the countries disclosing data, and more than only six other countries covered by the survey. However, the 29 million doses the country has now to pay for are doses contracted but never ordered. The country managed to re-route to other countries part, but not all, of the doses contracted but no longer needed. 

In response to the Brussels court ruling, health minister Alexandru Rogobere, cited by EuropaFM, confirmed that the decision refers to some 29 million doses that were part of the contract signed in May 2021, but which were not ordered. He stressed that, at the time, the state ordered a “huge” amount of vaccines “that had no connection with reality” and did not reflect the real public health needs or the vaccination rate.

The decision of the Belgian court, although it is only in the first instance and can be appealed, is enforceable, Rogobete said.

In Romania, the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) has started investigating a case in which former prime minister Florin Cîțu and two former health ministers from his cabinet are being probed: Vlad Voiculescu and Ioana Mihăilă. The three are suspected by prosecutors of having signed for the purchase of vaccine doses in excess of the real need. The investigations, started in 2023, have not yet reached an end.

Romania has received a total of some 26 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from various producers, mainly Pfizer/BioNTech, out of which it used just over 16 million and wasted 9.7 million. For a vaccination rate at the average of European Union countries, Romania would have used the extra 29 million doses – but still waste some 10 million – which would have still been under the EU average on a per-capita basis.

iulian@romania-insider.com

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