Sweden halts vaccine payments to Pfizer – VG

Report to Dagens Nyheter on Tuesday morning.

When the EU approved the Pfizer vaccine, each vial had to contain five doses. After the European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced that it was possible to withdraw a sixth dose from the vials if you use the correct type of needle, Pfizer has recalled six doses in the vials when they have paid.

Sweden refuses to accept it outright. Now they want a clarification of how many doses they receive in each bottle and the price for them.

– This is completely unacceptable. If a country only gets a chance to get five doses, it has a smaller dose for the same price, Sweden’s vaccine coordinator Richard Bergström, who is participating in the negotiations on behalf of the EU, tells the Swedish newspaper.

Therefore, the invoices that Pfizer has sent to Sweden will remain unpaid until clarification is available.

Pfizer declined to comment on the suspension of payments to Dagens Nyheter.

Discussing with the EU about the bill

Bergström explained to VG last week that there is a discussion between the EU Commission and Pfizer about whether they have the right to send an invoice for six doses to all cooperating countries already now.

– We do not intend to pay for six doses now, he said.

Here’s the background: In each vial of vaccines, it was agreed that there should be five doses. But Pfizer has added a margin of safety and made sure there is a little more in each glass, up to two additional doses.

While Denmark initially received seven doses per glass, Norway used five, until NIPH recommended using the entire glass on December 30.

In early January, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended updating the product information so that each bottle contains six, not five doses.

But in the contract that the EU and Norway have to buy the vaccine from Pfizer, we pay per dose, not per vial. The EU and Pfizer disagree on the consequences.

Not everyone uses six doses

Bergström says there is a big difference between the EU and EEA countries that have bought together, when it comes to whether they can extract the extra dose. It’s easier to get more out of your cups if you have, among other things, thinner syringe tips.

– In each country it looks different. It has a lot to do with having the right equipment. I understand it’s more about the needle and syringe you use than the training, he says.

According to Bergström, this is the main reason why you do not want to pay for six doses per glass now, even though the EMA has approved that it is possible to take six.

– It is not so much about money, it is more that we want to know that over time we obtain the doses we should receive, he says.

– This is when we accept that you send a bill for six doses. The opinion of the European Commission is that they cannot do so until each country confirms that
it’s okay to have six doses in the glasses.

How many municipalities have managed to extract six doses from the vaccine vials in Norway, FHI claims they do not have an overview of now.

– No connection to reduction

The Financial Times writes that Pfizer has reduced the number of vials they deliver, after it was defined that a glass contains six doses instead of five. Bergström rejects it.

– We get the vials that are available and take as much as we can, he says.

Last week, Norway and the other countries also received a reduced delivery from Pfizer, due to a production restructuring.

– That is what has been so unfortunate in this situation. There are two cases that coincide in time, but that have nothing to do with each other, says Bergström.

The production department had planned a reduced production because they were going to test a developed plant. But they hadn’t reported it, he says.

– It was not good with a descent that we did not know in advance, although it was planned. That’s why I say I’m a bit upset with Pfizer for not planning better.

Whatever happens with the contract, Bergström emphasizes that it is not true that Pfizer delivers fewer vials than it has done so far.

– There is an upward curve in the deliveries that have been previously agreed, so it will not go down. But the question is how much it goes up.

So far a box of vials has been defined as containing 975 doses. Now, the same box contains 1170 doses, if you roll six.

– The discussion is: When do you send a bill for six doses? You have to be sure that you can get six doses out of all the glasses, and that’s the point.

Pfizer: – Our bill is about dosage

– Now that Europe has the approval of six doses, there are six doses per glass that will be distributed and invoiced. Our deliveries are counted by the number of doses, not the number of cups, says communications manager Joachim Henriksen at Pfizer in Norway.

Pfizer Norway says it understands the criticism of this week’s drop in deliveries and does not reject it. But they do not want to comment on it, because this issue is now being discussed at the European level.