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BRUSSELS — A court document obtained by POLITICO shows that Pfizer, together with its partner BioNTech, opened legal proceedings against the Hungarian government in January this year over COVID-19 vaccine deliveries.
A spokesperson for Pfizer confirmed the case, which is unfolding in a Belgian court. “Discussions with the government in Budapest continue,” they added.
The document shows that the case concerns payment for 3 million BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine doses, worth around €60 million. The dispute began when Hungary notified Pfizer in November 2022 that it did not intend to pay the pharmaceutical company, citing the conflict in Ukraine.
A judge held a first hearing on the case in March and dismissed Pfizer’s request for a fast-tracked judgment. Since then the case has not progressed.
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Pfizer's suit against Hungary parallels one the pharmaceutical company opened against Poland. In both instances, the countries are being sued in civil court over their refusal to take and pay for deliveries of COVID-19 jabs they had signed up for.
On Tuesday, the Francophone Court of First Instance of Brussels held a brief first hearing relating to Pfizer’s case against Poland. Both parties agreed to postpone the hearing until January 30.
Poland’s dispute is over the delivery of 60 million doses the country refused to accept in April 2022. At the time, Warsaw invoked force majeure — citing the strain on its finances following an influx of refugees in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Last month, shortly after Poland’s elections, Pfizer said it was taking Warsaw to court over the missed payment, which POLITICO has estimated at around €1.2 billion based on reported vaccine prices. The vaccine’s co-developer, Germany’s BioNTech, also joined those proceedings.
Legal challenges proliferate
The two cases add to a growing body of legal proceedings related to the EU’s pandemic-era vaccine procurement efforts.
In Romania, prosecutors want to lift immunity for former Prime Minister Florin Cîțu and two former health ministers, claiming they purchased too many COVID-19 vaccines and thereby caused damages of over €1 billion to the state.
Belgian lobbyist Frédéric Baldan has filed a criminal case against Commission President Ursula von der Leyen over her alleged role in helping broker the EU’s biggest vaccine contract, for 1.1 billion doses. The small Belgian political party Vivant and three of its local lawmakers have also joined those proceedings, one of the lawmakers, Alain Mertes, told POLITICO.
Meanwhile, the New York Times is suing the Commission for refusing to disclose text messages mentioned in an April 2021 NYT interview with von der Leyen. In the article, the Commission president talked about her vaccine-buying efforts and texts exchanged with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla.
Finally, the EU’s financial crime watchdog, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, announced in a terse press release last October that it had opened an investigation into vaccine procurement. It didn't specify who it was investigating.