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The European Commission was wrong to limit public access to certain details in contracts for COVID-19 vaccines, according to a ruling from the EU's second-highest court on Thursday.
The court found that the Commission did not provide enough information, particularly about conflict of interest declarations from officials who negotiated the vaccine deals with pharmaceutical companies.
The issue gained attention after a New York Times report in 2021 revealed text messages between European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Burla
"The Commission did not give the public enough access to the contracts for the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines," the court stated.
This ruling followed an appeal from a group of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and private citizens who wanted to understand the terms of the vaccine purchases to ensure public interest was protected. They based their request on a 2001 EU regulation that promotes transparency.
Initially, in 2021, the Commission allowed only limited access to redacted documents, which led to legal action by the plaintiffs.
In its decision, the court canceled the Commission's limited access rulings, highlighting that these contracts were negotiated for group purchases in 2020 and 2021 on behalf of all EU member states.
The court noted that about €2.7 billion was spent to secure over one billion vaccine doses soon after the pandemic began. Most of these doses were purchased from Pfizer/BioNTech, but vaccines from Moderna, AstraZeneca, Janssen, Novavax, and Valneva were also approved.
Additionally, the court said the Commission failed to prove that sharing certain contract details would harm the companies' interests. It stressed that more transparency was needed regarding the team that negotiated the contracts.
This ruling is part of ongoing calls for greater transparency around the EU's vaccine purchasing process. In October 2022, the European Public Prosecutor's Office also began investigating these purchases.
The issue gained attention after a New York Times report in 2021 revealed text messages between European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Burla, raising concerns about the Commission's transparency.
With information from APE - MPE, Reuters, AFP
