BFF-35 Austrian chancellor says some EU states have ‘secret’ vaccine contracts

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BFF-35

AUSTRIA-HEALTH-VIRUS-VACCINES

Austrian chancellor says some EU states have ‘secret’ vaccine contracts

VIENNA, March 12, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Austria’s chancellor Sebastian Kurz on
Friday suggested that some European countries may have signed “secret
contracts” with vaccine companies to receive more jabs than they were
entitled to based on EU rules.

EU members have agreed that vaccines should be distributed among countries
based on population size, but Kurz said that after comparing total
procurement between member states, it became clear that “deliveries do not
follow the per capita quota system”.

“There are clues that point to so-called bazaars where additional
agreements between member states and pharmaceutical companies were made,”
Kurz said, adding that some members appear to be receiving higher vaccine
deliveries per capita than other countries.

BSS/AFP/SSS/2027 hrs