Pfizer Vaccine Contract Shows Ottawa Accepted Unknown ‘Efficacy’ of COVID Vaccines

A health-care worker prepares a dose Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the Michener Institute in Toronto on Dec.14, 2020. (Carlos Osorio/AFP via Getty Images)

The federal government accepted the unknown long-term safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines when it signed a contract with Pfizer for millions of doses, according to a recently released copy of the agreement.

“Purchaser further acknowledges that the long-term effects and efficacy of the vaccine are not currently known and that there may be adverse effects of the vaccine that are not currently known,” reads a copy of the Oct. 26, 2020, contract with Pfizer which was obtained by The Canadian Independent via an access-to-information request.

In an email to the Epoch Times, Health Canada said Public Services and Procurement Canada confirmed that the document is “indeed a redacted copy of the contract between Canada and Pfizer.”

By signing the agreement, Ottawa also acknowledged the vaccine and materials related to it were “rapidly developed due to the emergency circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic” and would continue to be studied by Pfizer after the vaccines were delivered.

In the contract, it was also agreed that the vaccine products would not be serialized, a process which gives a unique identification number or code for each product, allowing its history, location, and other important information to be tracked through the supply chain.

While sections 8 and 9 of the agreement between Pfizer and Canada have been completely censored, a leaked document between the company and South Africa obtained by the Health Justice Initiative showed the sections were titled “indemnification” and “insurance and liability.”

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In those sections, South Africa agreed to “indemnify, defend, and hold harmless” Pfizer and its representatives from all lawsuits, settlements, fines, and expenses arising from claims resulting from the vaccines, including injuries and deaths. The only exceptions were for a breach of confidentiality or fraud.

South Africa also agreed to create and maintain a “no-fault compensation fund” to provide payments to its citizens who experienced injury or harm because of the vaccines. The government agreed to demonstrate that Pfizer and its affiliates would have “adequate protection, as determined in Pfizer’s sole discretion” from liability claims arising from vaccine-related injuries or deaths.

The contract between Canada and Pfizer also omits the amount that was paid for the vaccines. In a 2022 report by Canada’s auditor general, it was revealed that the vaccines cost an average of $30 per dose. Pfizer initially announced it would be selling the vaccine at $19.50.

The United States originally agreed to pay US$19.50 per dose for the Pfizer vaccines, while the European Union paid US$18.90 per dose, and Israel paid an average of US$23.50 per dose.

Vaccine Contracts ‘Confidential’ For MPs

The 59-page agreement was marked “confidential” and the federal government has repeatedly said it was bound to secrecy on the terms it signed with the pharmaceutical company.

In March, Pfizer Canada President Najah Sampson told the House of Commons public accounts committee that even MPs were not allowed to view the terms of the agreement because the company’s technical information needed to remain confidential.

“Disclosure of our confidential agreement would be an extraordinary use of authority,” testified Ms. Sampson, adding that MPs’ requests to view the confidential agreements sent a ”very concerning signal about how this country upholds its contractual obligations and could challenge its reputation as a reliable partner for future contracts across all business sectors.”

Patricia Gauthier, president and general manager of Moderna Canada, also told the committee that the company’s delivery of mRNA vaccines to the Canadian government was predicated on the two “good faith principles” of transparency with the government, and the protection of intellectual property and confidential commercial information.

In February, Liberals on the committee wanted the MPs to sign non-disclosure agreements before viewing the vaccine contracts. Liberal MP Anthony Housefather argued that because the vaccine contracts were signed at the beginning of a pandemic when “companies were being told to rush vaccine production,” the products were not tested in a “normal way.”

Because of this, Mr. Housefather argued, the conditions between the federal government and pharmaceutical companies were different. The committee ultimately rejected Housefather’s amendment.

During the pandemic, the Department of Health signed contracts with a total of seven vaccine manufacturers: Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Medicago, Novavax, and Sanofi. An agreement between the federal government and Pfizer Canada stated the pharmaceutical firm would supply up to 125 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine in 2022 and 2023, with the option to supply up to 60 million additional doses in 2024.

An auditor general report from December 2022 found the Public Health Agency of Canada ended up with a large surplus of doses, with many expiring before they could be used by Canadians or donated to other countries. A total of 32.5 million doses sat in federal and provincial inventories at the time of the report, with many set to expire by the year’s end.