Pfizer suing Poland over missing payment for millions of vaccine doses

Pfizer is taking legal action against the Polish government over outstanding payments for 60 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed with BioNTech.

The lawsuit comes after a 19-month struggle between Pfizer and Warsaw over a surplus of vaccine doses. Pfizer is seeking to hold Poland to its commitments for vaccine orders placed as part of their contract to supply the European Union, Politico reported.

The doses were purchased through EU joint procurement contracts, as part of the bloc's gigantic 1.1 billion doses order. Pfizer has therefore brought the civil case before a Brussels court.

This legal action follows Poland's move to stop taking vaccine deliveries and invoke a force majeure clause in the contract due to financial strain and reduced vaccine needs.

The size of the contract has been a millstone around the Commission's neck ever since, and not merely because of transparency concerns around von der Leyen's refusal to discuss any personal role she may have played in the negotiations. It also tied countries into buying doses that, it turns out, they wouldn't need.

The timing is notable, coming after Poland's October election that saw PiS lose its ruling majority and the opposition led by the former President of the European Commission, Donald Tusk,  win enough seats to put the center-rights in power.

The timing is notable, coming after Poland's October election that saw PiS lose its ruling majority and the opposition win enough seats to put the center-right moderate Donald Tusk in power. He will likely want to keep good relations with Brussels and may feel more pressure to honor agreements negotiated through a Commission joint procurement contract.