[D66] AstraZeneca to be exempt from coronavirus vaccine liability claims in most countries

[R.O.]

Daar heb je het al. Je kan ze niet aanklagen als het mis gaat met dat 
vaccin.

https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKCN24V2EN

AstraZeneca to be exempt from coronavirus vaccine liability claims in 
most countries
Ludwig Burger and Pushkala Aripaka

Photo
FILE PHOTO: The company logo for pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is 
displayed on a screen on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) 
in New York, U.S., April 8, 2019.
Reuters/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

(Reuters) - AstraZeneca has been granted protection from future product 
liability claims related to its COVID-19 vaccine hopeful by most of the 
countries with which it has struck supply agreements, a senior executive 
told Reuters.

With 25 companies testing their vaccine candidates on humans and getting 
ready to immunise hundred millions of people once the products are shown 
to work, the question of who pays for any claims for damages in case of 
side effects has been a tricky point in supply negotiations.

"This is a unique situation where we as a company simply cannot take the 
risk if in ... four years the vaccine is showing side effects," Ruud 
Dobber, a member of Astra's senior executive team, told Reuters.

"In the contracts we have in place, we are asking for indemnification. 
For most countries it is acceptable to take that risk on their shoulders 
because it is in their national interest," he said, adding that Astra 
and regulators were making safety and tolerability a top priority.

Dobber would not name the countries.

EU officials told Reuters this week product liability was among 
contentious points in European efforts to secure supply deals for 
potential COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer, Sanofi and Johnson & Johnson.

The United States, however, already has a law to exclude tort claims 
from products that help control a public-health crises in the form of 
the 2005 Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness, or PREP Act.

AstraZeneca, Britain's second-largest drugmaker, has pledged to supply a 
total of more than 2 billion doses at no profit in agreements with the 
United States, Britain and European countries, among other nations and 
organisations.

Astra's deals differ from most rivals because it has secured government 
backing for production and development efforts, while competitors such 
as GlaxoSmithKline are looking to negotiate a price for a finished 
product, contingent on approval.

To back its claim to forgo profits from the $1.2 billion collaboration 
in the United States, Astra has even granted the government access to 
financial accounts related to the venture, according to Dobber.

"There are very clear milestones before they are going to pay. Because 
we made the promise to manufacture the vaccine at no profit, auditors of 
the U.S. administration will get free access to our accounting books," 
he said.

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger and Pushkala Aripaka; Editing by Edmund 
Blair and David Evans)
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.