Unreliable offers across Europe

Corona vaccine is still in short supply – private intermediaries promise European authorities a remedy, bypassing the official procurement channels. The Federal Ministry of Health and several federal states also received offers.

By A. Meyer-Fünffinger, J. Schuster, A. Wetter and M. Zierer, BR Four million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca: The regional government of Apulia apparently wanted to buy this amount – enough to be able to administer one dose of vaccine to the entire population of the southern Italian region. This is what it says in a letter that the head of the Apulian crisis team sent to AstraZeneca at the end of January. It suits that Bavarian Broadcasting and its international research partners IrpiMedia in Italy and Follow the Money in the Netherlands in front. Apparently, a direct deal between a regional government and AstraZeneca was planned, threaded through private brokers and handled through a complex network of companies. The deal does not go through, and in the meantime the prosecutor in Perugia has started investigations into suspected fraud.

Spahn speaks of a gold rush mood

After joint research by the BR With the international research partners, dealers across Europe offer vaccines to authorities and governments – bypassing central procurement via the EU Commission: in the Netherlands, for example, in Estonia or in Denmark. Vaccines are offered by AstraZeneca and BioNTech, including the Russian vaccine Sputnik V, which has not yet been approved in the EU.

Health Minister Spahn sees a “gold rush mood” among the providers. Image: dpa The German Ministry of Health is also repeatedly offered vaccines from different manufacturers, Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn confirmed in Berlin last week: “It’s a bit like in this pandemic with different products over and over again: it creates a gold rush atmosphere.” The pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca writes down BR-Inquiry that there is currently no supply, sale or distribution of the vaccine by the private sector. If someone offers private vaccines, it is “likely to be counterfeit,” said a spokeswoman.

Braid around a Stuttgart businessman

Behind the planned deal in Apulia is a complicated network of companies involved: A central figure is apparently a doctor from Stuttgart. He was the managing director of a Swiss company owned by his daughter. He does not make deals himself, but sees himself as an intermediary between pharmaceutical companies and governments, he tells reporters from BR Research / BR Data on the phone. A detailed written request remains unanswered. From an invoice that the BR is available, it appears that the cans should apparently be obtained through a dealer in the United States. Alleged origin of the vaccine: the United Kingdom. Also involved: two Hungarian “partner companies” of the Stuttgart businessman – one of them a furniture manufacturer. When asked, they do not know anything about vaccines for the Apulia region.

European anti-fraud agency investigated

The FDP European parliamentarian Andreas Glück speaks of “black sheep” on the vaccine market: “We definitely cannot accept that. The best way to protect ourselves from this is to work together at European level. Presumably everything did not go smoothly with the vaccine procurement at European level, we have to improve. ” The subject is known to the EU Commission. On request, a spokesman referred to the investigation by the European anti-fraud authority OLAF:

These offers come in many different forms. For example, the scammers offer to sell large quantities of vaccines, deliver a sample to collect the first advance payment, and then disappear with the money. They can supply batches of counterfeit vaccines. Or they pose as a representative of a legitimate company and claim they have or have access to vaccines. All of these claims have one thing in common: they are false. The EU Commission therefore calls on local authorities to be very careful if they receive offers of this kind.

Doubtful offers also in Germany

Some federal states have also received offers for vaccines, for example Schleswig-Holstein. The local Ministry of Health writes on request that at the end of March an individual contacted the country by email and pretended to be able to establish contact with a wholesaler. It was about five million doses of the BioNTech vaccine. No indication of the price. The Mainz vaccine manufacturer BioNTech agrees BR with that his vaccine is sold exclusively to governments and government-like organizations such as the European Commission. “BioNTech has no other sales channels,” writes the company. The Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Health followed up BR-Information an offer on the Russian vaccine Sputnik V. “Please send us a formal offer stating an initial purchase quantity of 1 million and the price offer,” wrote a company from Singen, which specializes in the import of medical cannabis from the Netherlands.

Investigations in Baden-Württemberg

In Stuttgart, the public prosecutor’s office is now investigating “after a private person allegedly appeared to a ministry as (alleged) mediator of vaccines,” as it was called upon request. The examination of the facts continues. Such offers were also available in Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Bremen. All federal states have said they have rejected it. The Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies emphasizes BR-Inquiry that caution should always be exercised with corona vaccines “when ‘intermediaries’ contact government agencies”. The Federal Association of Pharmaceutical Wholesalers goes one step further and demands that the distribution channel of vaccines for delivery from the manufacturer via pharmaceutical wholesalers and pharmacies to medical practices must be laid down. All alternative distribution channels and structures would run the risk of undermining the legal supply chain, jeopardizing the safety of the vaccines and thus the safety of the population to be vaccinated.