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This, from @robblackie_oo is an image of the published contract between EU and AZ for Covid-19 vaccine.
It is time for complete, global contract transparency around Covid vaccines.
1/n
It is time for complete, global contract transparency around Covid vaccines.
1/n
Two years ago, @CGDev hosted a working group on the issue of commercial confidentiality and contract publication. Drugs and vaccines was a major focus. https://www.cgdev.org/publication/principles-commercial-transparency-public-contracts
We had (great) industry representation from Nick Hirons (GSK) and their team.
We came up with a consensus principles on transparency in contracting that included (i.a.)...
We came up with a consensus principles on transparency in contracting that included (i.a.)...
"Information should only be redacted for reasons of commercial sensitivity when the public interest in withholding information is greater than the public interest in disclosure."
And...
And...
"The public interest test should take into account the wider economic benefits of the sharing of commercial information, as well as the case for accountability and the public’s right to know"
We discussed drug price and volume information in contracts at length. There wasn't a consensus in favor of automatic publication.
(Nor was there in @cgdev more broadly, see this:
https://www.cgdev.org/publication/can-transparency-lower-prices-and-improve-access-pharmaceuticals-it-depends)
(Nor was there in @cgdev more broadly, see this:
https://www.cgdev.org/publication/can-transparency-lower-prices-and-improve-access-pharmaceuticals-it-depends)
I admit I was on the side of routine price/volume publication at the time (in part because it appears that information is available anyway if you are willing to pay enough for it), so take what follows with that bias in mind....
It seems to me that this is a case where there is an *overwhelming public interest case* for price and volume transparency, especially at the global level. And the global level is the right level to look at...
(1) These vaccines were created with massive public support, all the way through the process. People have the right to know what their tax dollars paid for.
(2) This is a mass pandemic, information on prices and volumes regarding our best hope for controlling it is clearly of significant interest to the public.
(3) This information is of value to the world as a whole and will help all of us understand what global rollout is likely to look like. This matters to us all: not least, countries where Covid is out of control are where mutations are happening...
(4) sensitivity about tiered pricing strategies are in the past --pre-Covid it wasn't clear how monopsony power and monopoly power played off in setting prices anyway, and how much tiering happened in practice....
....add in the pre-commitments and deals that national and international agencies have done around Covid-19, don't pretend this might be about trying to preserve the ability of poorer countries to get a better price for vaccines.
(5) there is also some traditional sensitivity that production capacity information might be released.... but in this case in particular we *really want* that information released.
To sum up: there is an overwhelming global public interest in knowing the details of Covid-19 vaccine contracts. The traditional concerns against full publication are shaky in normal times and blown away in the face of a global pandemic. Publish full contracts without redaction.
