posted October 26, 2021 09:20 AM            

Government officials from Argentina and another Latin American country, which has signed a confidentiality agreement with Pfizer and so cannot be named, told the Bureau that Pfizer demanded additional indemnity against civil lawsuits citizens might file in relation to Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine.

Pfizer reportedly asked governments in Argentina and Brazil to put up sovereign assets, including military bases and federal bank reserves, as collateral for potential future legal costs.

Although most countries have offered indemnity to vaccine manufacturers in the pandemic, these Latin American government officials felt Pfizer’s demands went beyond those of other companies or the COVAX facility.

According to government officials in Argentina and the unnamed country, Pfizer asked for liability protection not only against civil claims from citizens who suffer serious adverse events after being vaccinated, but also for cases brought due to Pfizer’s own negligence, fraud or malice. Documents from Brazil’s Ministry of Health suggest that Pfizer made similar demands of the Brazilian government.

As a result of these demands, neither Argentina nor Brazil signed a vaccine supply deal with Pfizer. The other unnamed country eventually came to an agreement with Pfizer, but with a three-month delay, to the detriment of the government’s ability to get on top of the Covid-19 crisis.

World Health Organization (WHO) Center on National and Global Health Law director Professor Lawrence Gostin told the Bureau: “Pharmaceutical companies shouldn’t be using their power to limit life-saving vaccines in low and middle-income countries. [This] seems to be exactly what they’re doing.

“Some liability protection is warranted, but certainly not for fraud, gross negligence, mismanagement, failure to follow good manufacturing practices. Companies have no right to ask for indemnity for these things.”