A leaked letter has revealed how former prime minister Kevin Rudd held an intervention meeting with Pfizer to try and bring forward millions of doses as Australia’s rollout lagged.
Mr Rudd spoke with Pfizer chairman and chief executive Albert Bourla on June 30 to ask if the drug company could “advance the dispatch of significant quantities of the Pfizer vaccine to Australia as early as possible in the third quarter of this year”.
The details of the online meeting are contained in a letter Mr Rudd sent to Scott Morrison informing the prime minister he had spoken to the Pfizer boss in his personal capacity as a concerned citizen.
The ABC, which obtained a copy of the letter, reports that Mr Rudd stepped in after a senior Australian business figure living in the USA held two meeting with Pfizer because he was despairing of the Coalition’s government’s vaccine supplies.
The ABC reports that senior Pfizer executives had been astonished that Mr Morrison had not directly spoken to the Pfizer chairman and suggested that Mr Rudd — who was known to them because of his work in the United States — may have some influence.
A network of Australian businesspeople reportedly approached Mr Rudd after learning from Pfizer that the drug company had been offended by the Australian government during early vaccine contract negotiations.
Health minister Greg Hunt said on Sunday that the recent bringing forward of Pfizer doses was a result of government negotiations with Pfizer Australia.
In Mr Rudd’s letter to Mr Morrison, the former PM stated that the Pfizer chairman told him the company had limited flexibility because of its supply obligations around the world but Mr Boula would “personally look ‘at what further may be able to be done’.”
“My understanding was that there were current contractual arrangements with the Australian government to deliver a total 40 million doses by the end of 2021,” said Mr Rudd’s letter.
“Dr Bourla indicated that they had limited flexibility because of their existing supply obligations around the world. Nonetheless, he also indicated that a number of their manufacturing facilities were producing ahead of schedule.
If it was possible for Pfizer to accelerate the doses, Mr Boula indicated they would need a contractual request from the Australian government, Mr Rudd’s letter states.
“Speaking on my own initiative, I floated the possibility of Australia perhaps seeking a large-scale advance order of Pfizer’s 2022 vaccine “booster” which, from what I have read, is still under development,” continued Mr Rudd’s letter.
“I speculated that it might perhaps be possible for the Australian government to consider a commercial offer for the 2022 booster that would also incorporate a bringing-forward of the current order for the 2021 vaccine into the early part of the third quarter of this year.
“Once again, I emphasised to Dr Bourla that this was speculation on my own part, rather than me acting in any way on behalf of the Australian government.
“As Dr Bourla lives in New York, we also agreed to catch up when I return there later this year.”
Ten days after Mr Rudd’s zoom meeting, Mr Morrison announced on Friday that Australia’s Pfizer doses would be brought forward, with 1 million jabs per week starting in July.
“We have been working with Pfizer now for quite some period of time to bring forward our supplies … I commend Minister [Greg] Hunt and Professor [Brendan] Murphy and Lieutenant General [John] Frewen for the great job getting those supplies brought forward,” said Mr Morrison at the time.
Responding to the ABC’s report on Sunday, a spokesperson for Mr Hunt said the Australian government at all levels had been “proactively and continuously engaged directly with Pfizer throughout the COVID-19 vaccine rollout”.
“As part of this process, the minister has met with the Pfizer Australia country head Anne Harris on multiple occasions with a view to the announcement Friday on the timeframe achieved and at the level we had hoped for, which was the maximum that Pfizer had indicated might be available,” said the statement.
“While we were made aware of Mr Rudd’s approach, we are not aware this approach had any impact on the outcome.
“The Horizons document released in June referred to the expected base of 600,000 doses per week in August up to the one million per week figure which was achieved on an ongoing basis and we thank Pfizer for their continued support.
“We appreciate all contributions from those outside of government, even if they made no material difference to the outcome.”
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