European Commission president in COVID hot water before 2nd term election

European Commission President von der Leyen hopes for second term

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen hopes to win a second term when European parliamentarians vote for their president today, July 18, 2024. DW reporter Anchal Vohra writes that it will be an uphill battle for von der Leyen, who is promoting herself as a seasoned leader who will provide a "steady hand" at a time of political uncertainty around the world.

‍Ursula von der Leyen won only half the battle when  EU leaders endorsed her for a second term as president of the European Commission in June.

Now, she still needs to win over a majority of the European Parliament's 720 lawmakers on Thursday.

She is pitching herself as an experienced leader and could benefit from a desire in the European Union for a steady hand at a time when war rages in Ukraine and Donald Trump's possible return to the White House in November elections could shake up global relations. 

Gained notoriety for illegal Pfizer deal

Von der Leyen may be most recognized for her secret deal with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla to purchase almost 2 billion COVID vaccines. She negotiated the deal on her own, something not done for any of the other vaccines, and which was against EU rules, Carlo Martuscelli reported for Politico.

The [European Court of Auditors] found that the EU chief threw out the existing rulebook to hash out a preliminary deal with the U.S. multinational, paving the way for a contract for up to 1.8 billion coronavirus vaccine doses to be signed in May 2021. For all the other vaccine deals struck by the EU between 2020 and 2021, a joint team comprising officials from the Commission and seven member countries conducted exploratory talks. The outcome was then taken to a Vaccine Steering Board made up of representatives from all 27 EU member states who signed off on it.

But this established procedure was not followed in the case of the EU’s biggest contract, the Court of Auditors says. Instead, von der Leyen herself conducted preliminary negotiations for the contract in March, and presented the results to the steering board in April. Meanwhile, a planned meeting of scientific advisers, organized to discuss the EU’s vaccine strategy for 2022, never took place, the court writes. 

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Unlike with the other contract negotiations, the Commission refused to provide records of the discussions with Pfizer, either in the form of minutes, names of experts consulted, agreed terms, or other evidence.

This has remained a contentious issue as von der Leyen had claimed that she was no longer in possession of the emails between her and Bourla in which they negotiated the deal, Reuters reported.

Court rules against her - 24 hours before vote

Von der Leyen's lack of transparency may now come back to haunt her as a top European Court just ruled against her bid to maintain secrecy about the deal, Claudia Chiappa reported for Politico:

[A] top EU court ruled she was not transparent enough with the public about Covid-19 vaccine contracts.

The General Court of the European Union ruled against the Commission’s decision to redact large parts of the contracts before making them available.

The ruling came just over 24 hours before von der Leyen’s political future will be decided by members of the European Parliament. She needs 361 of the 720 EU lawmakers to back her in a secret vote that is expected to be close.

Pfizer demands vaccine deals kept secret

Von der Leyen's deal with Pfizer isn't the only one that is a secret. Pfizer has demanded secrecy over vaccine deals with all governments as Washington Post writer Adam Taylor noted:

But the rapid proliferation of the vaccine, under contracts negotiated between the company and governments, has unfolded behind a veil of strict secrecy, allowing for little public scrutiny of Pfizer’s burgeoning power, even as demand surges amid new negotiations for one of the world’s most sought-after products.  

What unredacted contracts reveal

Public Citizen, a consumer rights advocacy group, reported the discovery of several unredacted contracts. The contracts revealed how Pfizer uses its power to shift risk and maximize profit, Taylor reported:

Public Citizen, a consumer rights advocacy group that gained access to a number of leaked, unredacted Pfizer contracts, sheds light on how the company uses that power to “shift risk and maximize profits,” the organization argues.

The Manhattan-based pharmaceutical giant has maintained tight levels of secrecy about negotiations with governments over contracts that can determine the fate of populations. The “contracts consistently place Pfizer’s interests before public health imperatives,” said Zain Rizvi, the researcher who wrote the report.

Public Citizen found common themes across contracts, including not only secrecy but also language to block donations of Pfizer doses. Disputes are settled in secret arbitration courts, with Pfizer able to change the terms of key decisions, including delivery dates, and demand public assets as collateral.

Pfizer makes Israelis its lab "rats"

One of those countries that Pfizer negotiated with was Israel. The tiny nation agreed to turn its population into Pfizer's laboratory, as Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla termed it, in order to try to build a case for the vaccine's efficacy and its ability to stop transmission, the Jerusalem Post's Cody Levine wrote, recounting Bourla's interview with NBC.

We learned from the heavily redacted Real World Epidemiological Evidence Collaboration Agreement, between Pfizer and Israel's Ministry of Health that the company wanted to see whether they could claim that the vaccine produces herd immunity. Israel is keeping the unredacted agreement hidden for 30 years. This agreement also refers to a prior marketing agreement between the two entities which has yet to be unearthed. (Yellow highlights added.)

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Did Pfizer lie to Israel about possibility of herd immunity?

Pfizer most likely understood from the outset that the likelihood of the vaccine conferring herd immunity was a big question mark since the company never tested the vaccine to see if it stopped transmission. The world learned about this from Janine Small, president of international markets at Pfizer, when she told the European Parliament in October 2022 that Pfizer did not know whether its COVID-19 vaccine prevented transmission of COVID before it entered the market in December 2020. She explained that they never tested for it because they had to work at the "speed of science," Resist CBDC tweeted below:

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Astute individuals might have realized that something was amiss in February 2021 when Bourla discussed the data from Israel and admitted he was unsure about the vaccine's protection against transmission, as Levine reported:

When asked whether one could infect others after receiving two doses of the vaccine, he said: "It is something that needs to be confirmed, and the real-world data that we are getting from Israel and other studies will help us understand this better.‍

"But there are a lot of indicators right now that are telling us that there is a protection against the transmission of the disease."

Time to come clean

It's not just Ursula von der Leyen who needs to come clean, but Pfizer, Israel, and all other country that held secret negotiations with the Pharma behemoth. The world deserves to know what each government was coerced to sign away for a vaccine developed at the "speed of science," whatever that may mean.

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The information contained in this article is for educational and information purposes only and is not intended as health, medical, financial or legal advice. Always consult a physician, lawyer or other qualified professional regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition, health objectives or legal or financial issues.