ZURICH (Reuters) – The Swiss parliament failed to finance the government’s plan to buy COVID-19 vaccines in 2023, forcing the cabinet to try to renegotiate contracts with Moderna and Pfizer/Biontech for millions of doses.
With the two houses of parliament split over the funding request, budget rules required the adoption of the cheaper version of draft legislation, the SDA news agency said in a report posted on parliament’s website.
Parliament approved spending 560 million Swiss francs ($579 million) instead of the requested 780 million. That means the government could initially procure only 3.5 million additional vaccine doses each from Moderna and Pfizer/Biontech instead of seven million each for 2023 it announced in March.
The report cited Finance Minister Ueli Maurer as saying the vaccine contracts with the two manufacturers would become completely void in the event of a cutback so new contracts would have to be negotiated, with the outcome uncertain.
The vote came after news last month that Switzerland will destroy more than 620,000 expired doses of Moderna’s vaccine as demand for the shots drops dramatically.
European Union governments as well are intensifying pressure on COVID-19 vaccine makers to renegotiate contracts, warning millions of shots that are no longer needed could go to waste, Reuters reported this week.
($1 = 0.9666 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Michael Shields; Editing by Edmund Blair)
