Romania is supposed to purchase this year more than 19 million doses of vaccine against Covid-19, produced by Pfizer, out of the total of 39 mln doses worth EUR 800 mln earmarked for Romania under the contract signed by the European Commission with the big pharma company, according to health minister Alexandru Rafila.

This means that Romania is supposed to buy, in 2023 – three years after the Covid-19 pandemic, roughly half of the total volume of vaccines contracted by the European Commission on behalf of its member states.

Minister Rafila said he was “moderately optimistic” about the Commission’s capacity to reduce the contract size. He blamed his predecessors for the contract signed in 2021.

“In May 2021, the Romanian Government, under the signature of health minister Ioana Mihaila and prime minister Florin Citu, pledged to buy 39 million doses of the vaccine from the Pfizer company worth almost EUR 800 mln,” according to minister Rafila, quoted by Bursa.ro.

However, he admits the contract with Pfizer, furthermore including confidential provisions, was signed by the European Commission and not Romania.

“At the moment, the negotiation is being carried out between the signatories of the contract, i.e. the European Commission, not Romania (...) I am waiting to see how it will be settled, what the progress will be, it is a discussion with a certain confidentiality, given that the initial contracts were also confidential,” health minister Alexandru Rafila stated.

iulian@romania-insider.com

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