Beautiful Virgin Islands

Tuesday, Jul 01, 2025

EU yielded to commercial interests over COVID-19 vaccines, NGOs say

EU yielded to commercial interests over COVID-19 vaccines, NGOs say

The agreements signed between the European Commission and pharmaceutical companies to roll out COVID-19 vaccines offered significant long-term benefits to the corporations involved to the detriment of public health and global equality, research by NGOs has found.
“Private interests exerted undue influence over European policymakers during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in a crying lack of transparency on publicly funded vaccine contracts which left the public with more questions than answers," Rowan Dunn, EU Advocacy Coordinator at Global Health Advocates, a French NGO, has said.

Two reports released on Thursday and authored by Global Health Advocates and STOPAIDS, a UK-based non-profit, accuse the EU's executive of redacting contracts with pharmaceutical companies and accommodating industry requests on such things as pricing, intellectual property and confidentiality requirements in a bid to quickly roll out the vaccines for its population.

This was despite the fact that some of these confidentiality requirements weren’t consistent with EU legislation.

“Protecting commercial interests came at the expense of supporting policy interventions that could have increased global vaccine access, and which harmed transparency”, the report reads. “With an unaccountable driver, the public were taken for a ride”.

For Belgian MEP Marc Botenga (The Left), who is cited in the report, "there was no real transparency in the contract negotiations. On the contracts, there have been minor steps forward - under pressure."

“So, from the first contracts basically the Commission outsourced transparency, meaning they will give you what the company tells us we can give you. You are in a situation where the company decides”, he added.

EU Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly ruled maladministration on the part of the Commission last year after the EU's executive said it could not release text exchanges between its president, Ursula von der Leyen, and the CEO of Pfizer.

The Commission said following the request from the EU's watchdog for the messages to be released that they had not been kept as official EU documents because "due to their short-lived and ephemeral nature" text messages in general "do not contain important information relating to policies, activities and decisions of the Commission".

O’Reilly said then that the Commission's answer "leaves the regrettable impression of an EU institution that is not forthcoming on matters of significant public interest."

The NGOs' reports also concluded that the global vaccine rollout created levels of global inequality so great that many called it a “vaccine apartheid”.

While high-income countries largely had widespread access to vaccines and medical countermeasures for their populations, low and middle-income countries could not access the same conditions in their fight against Covid-19.

Global Health Advocates and STOPAIDS argue in the reports that this inequality can be explained by the fact that “commercial, economic and geopolitical” considerations were placed above global health considerations.

“When it came to our journey out of the pandemic the route toward equitable access could have been a direct one, but with Big Pharma in the driver’s seat choosing to follow private interests, access to vaccines for lower-income countries was likely denied," STOPAIDS' Advocacy Manager James Cold said.

Pharmaceutical companies sold the vast majority of their doses to the richest countries in the world - a strategy denounced as putting profits first, especially as companies wouldn’t allow poorer countries to produce the life-saving vaccine on their own because of intellectual property rules.

Laid down in trade deals, these allowed pharma corporations to operate as monopolies, with no responsibility to share the knowledge they owned, despite how much society needed it, the reports stated.

At the start of the pandemic, the EU made several statements on the importance of global vaccine solidarity. However, the report said that these promises weren't turned into concrete actions.

“Instead, EU actions translated into an every-country-for-itself attitude, which effectively led to a form of gatekeeping of COVID-19 health technologies," it added.

According to data from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), nearly 73% of people in high-income countries have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, compared to just 30% in low-income countries.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Robots Compete in Football Tournament in China Amid Injuries
Trump Administration Considers Withdrawal of Funding for Hospitals Providing Gender Treatment to Minors
Texas Enacts Law Allowing Gold and Silver Transactions
China Unveils Miniature Insect-Like Surveillance Drone
OpenAI Secures Multimillion-Dollar AI Contracts with Pentagon, India, and Grab
Marc Marquez Claims Victory at Dutch Grand Prix Amidst Family Misfortune
Germany Votes to Suspend Family Reunification for Asylum Seekers
Elon Musk Critiques Senate Budget Proposal Over Job Losses and Strategic Risks
Los Angeles Riots ended with Federal Investigations into Funding
Budapest Pride Parade Draws 200,000 Participants Amid Government Ban
Southern Europe Experiences Extreme Heat
Xiaomi's YU7 SUV Launch Garners Record Pre-Orders Amid Market Challenges
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez's Lavish Wedding in Venice
Russia Launches Largest Air Assault on Ukraine Since Invasion
Education Secretary Announces Overhaul of Complaints System Amid Rising Parental Grievances
Massive Anti-Government Protests Erupt in Belgrade
Trump Ends Trade Talks with Canada Over Digital Services Tax
UK Government Softens Welfare Reform Plans Amid Labour Party Rebellion
Labour Faces Rebellion Over Disability Benefit Reforms Ahead of Key Vote
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Host Lavish Wedding in Venice Amid Protests
Trump Asserts Readiness for Further Strikes on Iran Amid Nuclear Tensions
North Korea to Open New Beach Resort to Boost Tourism Economy
UK Labour Party Faces Internal Tensions Over Welfare Reforms
Andrew Cuomo Hints at Potential November Comeback Amid Democratic Primary Results
Curtis Sliwa Champions His Vision for New York City Amid Rising Crime Concerns
Federal Reserve Proposes Changes to Capital Rule Affecting Major Banks
EU TO HUNGARY: LET THEM PRIDE OR PREP FOR SHADE. ORBÁN TO EU: STAY IN YOUR LANE AND FIX YOUR OWN MESS.
Trump Escalates Criticism of Media Over Iran Strike Coverage
Trump Announces Upcoming US-Iran Meeting Amid Controversial Airstrikes
Trump Moves to Reshape Middle East Following Israel-Iran Conflict
Big Four Accounting Firms Fined in Exam Cheating Scandal
NATO Members Agree to 5% Defense Spending Target by 2035
Australia's Star Casino Secures $195 Million Rescue Package Amid Challenges
UK to Enhance Nuclear Capabilities with Acquisition of F-35A Fighter Jets
Russian Shadow Payments via Cryptocurrency Reach $9 Billion
Explosions Rock Doha as Iranian Missiles Target Qatar
“You Have 12 Hours to Flee”: Israeli Threat Campaign Targets Surviving Iranian Officials
Macron and Merz: Europe must arm itself in an unstable world
Germany and Italy Under Pressure to Repatriate $245bn of Gold from US Vaults
Airlines Evaluate Flight Cancellations Amid Escalating US-Iran Tensions
Starmer Invites Innovators to Join Government Talent Scheme
UK Economy’s Strong Opening Quarter Shows Signs of Cooling
Harrods Seeks Court Order to Secure Al Fayed Estate for Victims
BA and Singapore Airlines Cancel Dubai Flights Amid Middle East Tensions
Trump Faces Backlash from MAGA Base Over Iran Strikes
Meta Bets $14 B on Alexandr Wang to Drive AI Ambitions
WATCH: Israeli forces show the aftermath of a massive airstrike at Iran's Isfahan nuclear site
FedEx Founder Fred Smith, ‘Heart and Soul’ of the Company, Dies at 80
Chinese Factories Shift Away from U.S. Amid Trump‑Era Tariffs
Pimco Seizes Opportunity in Japan’s Dislocated Bond Market
×