On 30 November 2020, the European Commission signed a secret contract for the supply of the Covid vaccine from CureVac, a bio pharmaceutical company specializing in the development of mRNA-based therapies in the Netherlands, but based in Tübingen, Germany.
By signing five agreements for the supply of vaccines, the EU has purchased a total of 2 billion doses to be shared between different Member States. The contract signed with CureVac will provide Europe with 225 million doses of vaccine.
As Belgian MEP Marc Botenga told the Italian news agency Agi, the first MEPs who were allowed to see the confidential contract to supply the vaccine had “50 minutes to read dozens of pages”. A period of time that, he says, “does not allow us to understand the clauses and exceptions.”
A spokesman for the Belgian Labor Party says he was forced to “leave smartphones and computers outside before entering the room”. Once there, he had to quickly read the contract and possibly “take notes by hand”. The same method was applied, says the MEP, in the case of “TTIP trade agreements with the United States”, certainly this being the “opposite of transparency”, Botenga points out.
The content of the contract is classified so that MEPs are obliged not to disclose anything. In order to see the text, you must sign an NDE. Through this procedure, the Belgian MEP accuses, “the Commission has privatized transparency, leaving pharmaceutical companies to decide how contracts can be accessed”. Moreover, the version of the vaccination contract offered to MEPs is not complete, eliminating the most sensitive information.