Poland, Romania Ordered to Pay Pfizer $2.2 Billion for COVID Vaccines

A court in Belgium ruled that the nations had to honor their part of a contract signed by the EU in 2021.

An illustration shows a drop from a syringe in front of the logo of U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer on Nov. 17, 2020. Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images

A Belgian court ordered Poland and Romania to take delivery of and pay for 1.9 billion euros ($2.2 billion) worth of Pfizer-made COVID-19 vaccines on April 1.

The U.S. pharmaceutical giant sued Warsaw and Bucharest in late 2023 in Brussels to compel the nations to keep up their end of a contract signed between the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, and Pfizer for the delivery of a set number of vaccine doses over several years, the court said.

That contract was agreed to in 2021, but Poland refused in April 2022 to comply with it, citing factors beyond its control, including the changing nature of the pandemic, the outbreak of war in Ukraine, and possible abuse by Pfizer of its dominant market position. Romania later did likewise.

The Brussels court rejected those arguments and ordered Poland and Romania to take delivery of the vaccine doses and pay Pfizer.

Poland was ordered to take delivery of Pfizer jabs valued at 1.3 billion euros ($1.5 billion), while Romania was ordered to accept doses valued at 600 million euros ($697 million).

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk blamed his predecessor Mateusz Morawiecki for the situation in an April 1 post on X.

“Morawiecki’s government ordered COVID vaccines that it did not pick up and did not pay for. Poland, and thus all of us, will have to pay for this extreme stupidity of PiS [Law and Justice Party] over 6 billion [Polish currency] in fines. And unfortunately, this is not an April Fool’s joke,” he said.

“Poland intends to pursue all legal remedies available to it to amend this ruling and defend its interests,” the Polish Health Ministry said in a statement.

The ruling requires a detailed analysis regarding its implementation, and the financial and practical aspects, the ministry added.

A spokesperson for Pfizer said the company “now expects member states to follow the court’s ruling,” according to a statement provided to media outlets.

“This decision reflects the importance of the contractual obligations that underpinned a successful European pandemic response, which was built on the principle of solidarity between member states,” the Pfizer spokesperson added.

The Epoch Times contacted Pfizer, the Romanian government, and the Polish government for comment, but did not receive a reply before publication.

Fellow EU member state Hungary is also involved in litigation over vaccines with Pfizer.

Budapest in November 2022 followed Warsaw and Bucharest’s lead in challenging the contract, citing identical concerns, but that case is over the far smaller sum of 60 million euros ($69.7 million).

Lawyers for the Hungarian government and Pfizer are scheduled to appear before the same Belgian court later this month.

The 2021 contract was the largest procurement deal in the history of the EU, and the biggest vaccine procurement deal ever agreed to in the world, coming as it did during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, which paralyzed the continent.

Reuters contributed to this report.