Not new but some texture around the Liar’s fantastic vaccine ineptitude:
New emails reveal how “enthusiastic” Pfizer was to engage with Australia about its COVID-19 vaccine, months before the federal government agreed to buy any doses.
Doses were in limited supply during the deadly outbreaks in Victoria and New South Wales this year.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is now central to the nation’s effort to combat the virus, despite Australia being slower than other nations in purchasing the jab.
Documents obtained by 7.30 under freedom of information (FOI) laws shed new light on the drug company and the government’s dealings at a critical time for negotiations last year.
In early July 2020, Pfizer Australia emailed the office of Health Minister Greg Hunt with “some positive early data” from early-stage trials.
“Efforts to manufacture the leading candidates … are gearing up,” they wrote.
“My global colleagues are enthusiastic to discuss this further, and possible opportunities in Australia, at a senior level at the earliest opportunity.”
Someone in the minister’s office forwarded this email to the head of the Health Department’s vaccine taskforce, Lisa Schofield, adding only: “FYI.”
Days earlier, Pfizer Australia’s boss Anne Harris wrote to Mr Hunt to begin formal talks and request a meeting about COVID-19 vaccines.
“We have the potential to supply millions of vaccine doses by the end of 2020 … then rapidly scale up to produce hundreds of millions of doses in 2021,” Ms Harris wrote, in correspondence previously released.
“[A colleague] will be in touch to schedule a meeting. I look forward to meeting you and working with you into the future.”
Ms Harris’s letter was contained in an email from a Pfizer colleague, which asked for “this meeting occur at the earliest opportunity”.
“The vaccine development landscape is moving swiftly, including through engagements with other nations.
“I am able to make senior members of Pfizer’s global leadership team available for this discussion, particularly if the minister and/or departmental leadership can be involved.”
Two days after receiving the letter, which has previously been released under FOI, someone in the minister’s office forwarded the letter to the head of the department’s vaccine taskforce.
“FYI — will leave it to you on this one,” the person wrote in a newly released email.
Nations began announcing vaccine deals with Pfizer later in July 2020, including the United States and the United Kingdom.
Australia announced an initial agreement with Pfizer in November, purchasing 10 million doses to be delivered “from early to mid-2021”.
The government indicated at the time that Pfizer’s vaccine would be used to supplement AstraZeneca supplies.
Australia has subsequently ordered millions more Pfizer shots.
In a statement, the Health Minister’s office said it had participated in 10 meetings with Pfizer between July and October.
Mr Hunt personally attended a meeting with Pfizer a week before the November agreement.
A spokeswoman said the government struck an agreement with Pfizer “as soon as possible” and that “no earlier doses were available to Australia”.
More obvious lies. Pfizer was clearly campaigning hard to give it to Australia earlier than November, just as it did other developed markets like Israel, Canada, Saudi Arabia, UK and US. But the Liar was busy doing his sweetheart deal with ex-Liberal staffers at Astra Zeneca instead:
Goodness.
The Director of Government Affairs at Scott Morrison’s suddenly favourite new drug company AstraZeneca is former federal govt lobbyist Kieran Schneemann.
He’s also a former Chief of Staff in the Liberal party.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that at all.
— RonniSalt (@RonniSalt) August 19, 2020
The rest is history. The Liar’s vaccine sweetheart procurement strategy made the program too narrow. When strife hit AZ there was no fallback and the vaccine program all but collapsed.
The Liar’s failure to centralise quarantine in remote areas then invited Delta through the borders and south-eastern Australia re-entered lockdown and recession, costing the nation scores of billions, lives and social unrest.
These blunders are the single worst policy failure in modern Australian history.
