Pfizer Not Responsible for Side Effects of COVID-19 vaccine?

Pfizer Not Responsible for side effects of COVID-19 vaccine? Pfizer vaccine’s “legal exemption” worries many countries.

According to a report on the website of “Russia Today” on the 6th, the vaccine procurement negotiations between the Peruvian government and the US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer have recently reached a deadlock. The two sides have disputes over whether pharmaceutical companies enjoy legal immunity on vaccine issues. Peru is not the first country to disagree with pharmaceutical companies over legal immunity issues. According to the World Bank, this issue has become one of the main obstacles to finalizing the vaccine supply agreement.

“People do need vaccines, but there are some areas related to national sovereignty that really need to be protected… This is related to the risks to future generations.” Peru’s Health Minister Mazzetti told the country’s Congress on Tuesday. Since July last year, it has been “maintaining contact” with Pfizer, but the two sides broke up in the negotiations in December last year. Mazzetti said that due to the confidentiality agreement, she could not disclose too many details, but the dispute between the two parties involved vaccine pricing and delivery, and whether Pfizer enjoyed legal immunity if the vaccine caused death or injury. At the end of November last year, Peru announced a purchase agreement with Pfizer for nearly 10 million doses of vaccine. However, Mazzetti said on the 5th that some provisions in the agreement need to be “deeper analysis” to determine whether they comply with Peruvian law.

Other countries, including Brazil and Argentina, also raised concerns about legal immunity in negotiations with Pfizer. According to a Reuters report on the 6th, Brazilian President Bolsonaro complained in December that pharmaceutical companies were not responsible for vaccine side effects. Recently, several countries have experienced serious adverse reactions after receiving Pfizer vaccine. A medical worker in Portugal died suddenly after being vaccinated earlier this week, and two elderly people in Norway died a few days after the first dose of the vaccine. It is unclear whether these deaths are related to the vaccine.

To solve the vaccine supply problem, Peru has resumed negotiations with AstraZeneca, a multinational pharmaceutical company based in the United Kingdom. In October last year, Peru suspended negotiations on the grounds that AstraZeneca did not provide sufficient test data. Peru also signed an agreement to obtain 13.2 million doses of vaccine through the “New coronavirus Pneumonia Vaccine Implementation Plan”. Mazzetti said these vaccines are expected to be released in the “first three months of this year.” In addition, Peru has conducted clinical trials for vaccines developed by multinational pharmaceutical companies and is negotiating with 20 laboratories for supply.

(source:internet, reference only)

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