The EU’s vaccine prices were — for a short time and by accident — finally made public.
Belgium’s Budget State Secretary Eva De Bleeker on Thursday tweeted a table with the price of each vaccine purchased by the EU and how much Belgium will spend in total on the vaccines, according to Belgian news site HLN. The tweet has since been deleted, but the outlet published a screenshot.
The European Commission has said it cannot disclose the prices paid for each coronavirus vaccine, citing commercial confidentiality agreements.
Civil society groups, MEPs and health advocates have been calling for months for the Commission to reveal how much the EU is paying, arguing that deals involving taxpayer funds should have greater transparency.
The Commission signed deals with six producers and completed exploratory talks with a seventh on Thursday. Countries will place their orders individually for each vaccine.
According to the screenshot published by HLN, the EU is spending between €1.78 and $18 per coronavirus vaccine. The price per dose listed for each of the six vaccines was as follows:
- Oxford/AstraZeneca: €1.78
- Johnson & Johnson, $8.50
- Sanofi/GSK: €7.56
- BioNTech/Pfizer: €12
- CureVac: €10
- Moderna: $18
Belgium will purchase more than 33 million vaccines for a total of €279 million.
De Blecker said that publication of the price breakdown was “a mistake on the part of the communications team,” according to HLN.
In reaction to questions by opposition MPs about the potential consequences of the violation of confidentiality, De Blecker said the blunder would not “endanger anything” concerning Belgium’s access to vaccines.
According to HLN, the European Commission said: “We will not comment on what happened in Belgium, but the prices of the vaccines are confidential.”
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