March 14 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria, Poland, Lithuania and Hungary urged the European Commission on Tuesday to renegotiate the contract for the supply of COVID-19 vaccines with US-based Pfizer to comply with the needs of member states.
“We do not agree to supplies that exceed the needs of the Member States and the Member States do not want,” the four countries said in a joint statement presented at a session of the Council of the European Union on Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs (EPSCO).
The statement, which was published on Twitter by Poland's health minister Adam Niedzielski, reads: “We call on the Commission, when acting on our behalf, to negotiate a new, fairer deal, in public interest. This requires a significant reduction in the number of doses, based on the quantities needed by the Member States”.
Bulgarian health ministry said earlier in March that it will seek a termination of the vaccine supply deal or will pursue an alternative scenario under which deliveries should be aligned to the needs of member states.
Bulgaria is the country with the lowest vaccination rate in the EU. According to data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Bulgaria’s uptake of primary course of COVID-19 vaccination is only 30.1%, compared to 73% among the total EU population.