Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group might have lost its right to distribute the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for COVID-19 and the ability to fulfill a contract in Taiwan, civic groups Taiwan Citizen Front and the Economic Democracy Union said yesterday.
In a radio interview on Feb. 17, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), head of the Central Epidemic Command Center, said that last year, Taiwan was close to signing a contract to buy doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, but that the deal was halted at the last moment, with some speculating that Chinese interference was to blame.
On Monday last week, the center said that it had since November last year been negotiating a deal directly with German vaccine maker BioNTech.
Photo: CNA
Some in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) questioned why the center did not try to negotiate a deal through Pfizer-BioNTech’s Chinese partner, Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group, which obtained the right to market and distribute the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in Taiwan and China, including Macau and Hong Kong.
In March last year, a Shanghai Fosun statement on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s Web site confirmed that the company was authorized to develop and market the vaccine in Taiwan and China, Taiwan Citizen Front member Hsu Kuang-tse (許冠澤) said.
However, in the middle of December last year, the company released a modified contract, including a profit allocation plan with BioNTech that listed China, Hong Kong and Macau, but not Taiwan, Hsu said.
The contract stated that the company was responsible for applying to country regulators for clinical trials and drug approvals, but Shanghai Fosun has not applied to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Hsu said, adding that the contract’s failure to mention Taiwan might indicate that the company lost its authorization to distribute the vaccine here.
Shanghai Fosun applied for emergency use authorization in Hong Kong and Macau, and for clinical trials in China, but did not apply for either in Taiwan, Taiwan Citizen Front member Chiang Min-yen (江旻諺) said.
The civic groups are skeptical that Shanghai Fosun still has the authorization to honor a contract to deliver doses of the vaccine to Taiwan, Chiang added.
Beijing plans to purchase more doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, so Taipei should be aware that the Chinese government might pressure BioNTech not to sell vaccines to Taiwan, or to delay until after fulfilling its contract with Beijing, Economic Democracy Union convener Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) said.
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