Millions of doses Pfizer approached Australia first for vaccine deal

By Rachel ClunUpdated September 8, 2021 â€" 2.31pmfirst published at 1.20pm

Federal bureaucrats turned down an offer from pharmaceutical giant Pfizer in mid-2020 for a detailed meeting with top executives and the Health Minister about the company’s progress on a coronavirus vaccine, as other countries were already on track to signing deals for millions of doses.

Documents from June and early July last year released under the Freedom of Information Act show the company was eager to meet “at the earliest opportunity”, but received a response from the Department of Health days later offering a meeting with a first assistant secretary instead.

Documents obtained under freedom-of-information laws show the Health Minister did not take up Pfizer’s invitation for a first meeting.

But a spokesman for Health Minister Greg Hunt rejected the interpretation that the government was slow to act, saying the Department of Health began working with Pfizer shortly after the pandemic began.

“The Department has been actively engaged with Pfizer since very early in the pandemic,” he said. “These discussions have been extensive and co-operative.”

Australia signed its first contract with Pfizer in November, for 10 million doses. Other countries, including the US and Canada, had signed deals with the pharmaceutical giant as early as July that year.

In a letter to Mr Hunt dated June 30, a Pfizer Australia representative said the company was working in collaboration with BioNTech to develop, test and manufacture an mRNA-base vaccine that could potentially “be deployed at unprecedented speed” to prevent COVID-19 infections.

“We have the potential to supply millions of vaccine doses by the end of 2020, subject to technical success and regulatory approvals, then rapidly scale up to produce hundreds of millions of doses in 2021,” the letter said.

The documents obtained by Labor show the company suggested a comprehensive first meeting between Mr Hunt or departmental leadership with the company’s global head of vaccines “at the earliest opportunity”.

Three days later, Health Department assistant first secretary Lisa Schofield replied saying the letter had been passed on to the health minister, and she would appreciate the opportunity to talk to the company about its vaccine work.

The first meeting was scheduled for July 10. Ms Schofield told a Senate COVID-19 committee hearing earlier this year no offer for doses was put on the table at that meeting, and it was a more general discussion about where the company was at in the process.

The Health Minister’s officer first met with Pfizer on August 4, after the US and UK had already signed deals for millions of doses.Credit:Meredith O’Shea

Mr Hunt’s spokesman said there had also been constant informal engagements before the first meeting, as shown by the emails. Since the first formal meeting, he said there have been “numerous formal meetings and phone engagements with the company” to secure vaccine supply.

But the documents also reveal Pfizer was willing to provide a more detailed outline of the company’s approach in that meeting, if the Commonwealth representatives signed confidential disclosure agreements (CDAs).

“If we can get this signed ahead of Friday’s meeting then we will include several senior Global Pfizer colleagues on the call to be able to provide the detail you may be seeking on a range [of] issues,” the email dated July 6 said.

“Alternatively we are happy to treat this Friday as just an exploratory/introductory meeting without the CDA, in which case it will be limited to my Australian colleagues.”

A follow-up email the next day suggested a “highly detailed” slide deck could be included if the non-disclosure was signed, so the company could run Australia through the development and trial process.

“I am assuming a postponement to next week to enable time to review and sign the CDA, and find an appropriate time slot, is most likely but my local colleagues are keeping 10.30am on Friday free nonetheless,” the July 7 email from Pfizer said.

In response, Ms Schofield said the government was considering the non-disclosure agreement.

“It is not usual practice for the Commonwealth to sign such documents as we are covered by various legislative requirements to keep information gained through our employment confidential,” she wrote.

“I would like to propose that we keep the slot on Friday morning and have the introductory/exploratory discussion you suggest. We can always line up subsequent ones as needed.”

Labor’s health spokesman Mark Butler said Australia has suffered because of the slow pace of the vaccine rollout.

“The vaccine rollout was always a race, but Australia started a lap behind because Scott Morrison’s government took a deliberate “wait and see” approach to vaccine deals,” he said.

“While other countries were signing Pfizer deals, our government couldn’t even be bothered arranging a meeting.”

Legal representatives from Pfizer and the Commonwealth were still hashing out the non-disclosure agreement when a company representative noted in an email on July 23 that the US and UK had already signed deals for doses. The US ordered an initial 100 million doses on July 22, and the UK signed a deal for 30 million doses on July 20.

Representatives from the Health Minister’s office first met with Pfizer on August 4. But the minister’s office did not respond to questions about why Mr Hunt did not attend the initial meeting, nor when he first met with Pfizer representatives.

“The Australian government entered into an Advanced Purchase Agreement (APA) with Pfizer for the purchase of their COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible, whilst ensuring safe and effective vaccines for Australians based on the medical advice from SITAG [Science and Industry Technical Advisory Group] and the maximum doses available,” he said.

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