In a move that has proved highly embarrassing the Belgian government, State Secretary for Budget and Consumer Protection Eva de Bleeker has made public on social media the price of the European Union pays various manufacturers for their respective COVID-19 vaccines, The Brussels Times reports .
The most expensive one is that of U.S. biotech firm Moderna with €14.67, followed by those of BioNTech/Pfizer at €12, Curevac at €10, Sanofi/Gsk with €7.56, Johnson&Johnson (€6.97) and Oxford/AstraZeneca (€1.78). Belgian state secretary for budget and consumer protection Eva de Bleeker. While the Belgian opposition has been demanding more information about the price of the vaccines, Belgian Health Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Frank Vandenbrouck replied that the figures are part of deals between the EU and the manufacturers and are confidential.
Shortly after de Bleeker released a table with the prices and number of doses to be delivered by the various producers (33.76 million doses in total at a cost of €279 million), Vandenbrouck ordered her to remove it, but the information had already spread across the web.
Title image: An ice pack lays outside a box containing the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine as boxes are prepared to be shipped at the McKesson distribution center in Olive Branch, Miss., Sunday, Dec. 20, 2020. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, Pool)
