Emails reveal Australia’s shocking Pfizer delay

Newly released emails reveal Health Minister Greg Hunt was first approached by Pfizer but his office dragged its heels before meeting the drug giant.

Pfizer offered Health Minister Greg Hunt a meeting with its top officials in June last year, claiming it could supply “millions of vaccine doses” by the end of 2020.

But new documents obtained under Freedom of Information reveal Mr Hunt’s office did not become directly involved in talks for more than a month.

Labor has lashed the Morrison government over the delay, saying it had failed the vaccine rollout.

“While other countries were signing Pfizer deals, our government couldn’t even be bothered arranging a meeting,” Opposition health spokesman Mark Butler said.

“The vaccine rollout was always a race, but Australia started a lap behind because Scott Morrison’s government took a deliberate ‘wait and see’ approach to vaccine deals.”

Emails obtained by Labor show Pfizer requested a “formal” meeting with members of the vaccine task force on June 30, 2020.

The official warned it should occur at the “earliest opportunity” because the drugmaker was in talks with other countries.

There is overwhelming demand for Pfizer and little supply. Picture: David Crosling

“I am able to make senior members of Pfizer’s global leadership team available for this discussion, especially if the Minister and/or Departmental leadership can be involved,” they wrote.

An attached letter addressed to Mr Hunt requests a meeting with him to discuss Australia’s Covid-19 vaccination program.

“We have the potential to supply millions of vaccine doses by the end of 2020, subject to technical success and regulatory approvals, then rapidly scale up to produce hundreds of millions of doses in 2021.”

First Assistant Secretary Lisa Schofield – who was charged with procuring Covid-19 vaccine doses on behalf of the government – responded a few days later, saying the letter had been passed on to Mr Hunt, and that she would like a meeting with Pfizer.

Pfizer then requested that a confidential disclosure agreement be signed before high-level talks with global staff could proceed.

An introductory meeting with Australian Pfizer officials, which did not require an agreement, was taken up instead by Ms Schofield.

Notes from the July 10 meeting reveal Pfizer wanted discussions to move quickly, adding doses could be supplied by the end of 2020.

In late July, the company sent another email flagging it had recently signed deals with Britain and the US.

However, it wasn’t until August 4 that a member from Mr Hunt’s office attended another meeting with Pfizer Australia.

Mr Butler said Australians were paying the price for Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s incompetence.

“We have more people in lockdown and fewer people fully vaccinated than any other developed country,” he said.

“He’s failed the vaccine rollout and Australians won’t forget.”

A spokesman for Health Minister Greg Hunt said there had been “constant informal engagements” with Pfizer prior to June 30, when the company signalled it was ready to begin formal negotiations.

He said the government moved “immediately” with the first step being talks about the confidentiality agreement.

“The ALP claim is false and has been refuted with facts on multiple occasions by multiple parties,” according to a statement.

The millions of Pfizer doses available by the end of 2020 referred to Pfizer’s global production capacity, not what was on offer to Australia.

He said Australia entered into an advanced purchase agreement with Pfizer “as soon as possible”.

“As Pfizer has made clear, no earlier doses were available to Australia.”

Australia struck a deal with Pfizer in November last year to buy 10 million doses of the mRNA vaccine.

It later struck a series of further agreements to boost its stock of the highly sought-after jab.