Health Committee on March 8th, 2021

[Cole Pinnow]

Pfizer has been on record from the beginning to say that traditional supply and demand economics do not factor into our pricing decision.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Would the price of a vaccine purchased by the Government of Canada or any other country in the last quarter of 2020, or in December, be higher or lower than if the vaccine were purchased in summer 2021, when there's less demand?

[Cole Pinnow]

Again, I appreciate the question, but we will not be discussing pricing publicly.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

I just wanted to know whether this made any sense.

Dr. Dubé, do you consider that Canada paid a high price to symbolically enter the vaccine race and to ensure that we see images of vaccinated Canadians on the news, on the CBC, on Radio-Canada or elsewhere, given the news that we see on the BBC or in the United States?

Do you believe that the price of the dose, estimated at $37.70, is too high compared to Europe's price, which is half that rate?

[Dr. Ève Dubé]

That's a good question, but it's a little bit outside my area of expertise. I think that, as in every country in the world, vaccination was seen as the way to end the pandemic. All countries rushed to acquire vaccines.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

I gather that the rush came at the expense of taxpayers.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Mr. Lemire.

We'll go now to Mr. Davies.

Mr. Davies, please go ahead. You have two minutes.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Thank you.

Mr. Pinnow, you brought up the PMPRB changes. We know that those reforms, which your company opposes, were scheduled to go into force on January 1 of this year, and the Liberal government postponed them for the third time.

Tell me, at any time in 2020, did Pfizer ever link the provision of vaccine doses with its desire to have the government not implement the PMPRB changes?

[Cole Pinnow]

Let me be clear: The answer is never.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Thank you.

Did Pfizer permit the release of the contract with the United States? Was that by agreement, Mr. Pinnow?

[Cole Pinnow]

Again, I can't speak to other countries and the unique circumstances that led to disclosures for Pfizer or any other company.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Will you agree to release the contract you have with the Canadian government? Will you waive confidentiality at least for non-sensitive—non-commercially sensitive—aspects so that Canadians can see the contract?

[Cole Pinnow]

Pfizer has provided an unprecedented level of transparency. We've openly shared details of our clinical program. We've published data in peer-reviewed journals. We've shared our manufacturing targets and performance against them.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Pinnow—

[Cole Pinnow]

This balances the need—

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

—you're not trying to answer the question, so my last question will be this. Argentina and other countries claim that Pfizer is using its patent monopoly to try to force a provision in contracts avoiding liability for negligence, fraud or malice. Is such a clause in the Canadian contract?

[Cole Pinnow]

Again, terms and conditions of the Canadian contract should remain confidential.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Can you tell us why they should?

[Cole Pinnow]

Because of the geopolitical sensitivities. As I've mentioned earlier, we've negotiated with each country outside of the EU on an individual basis given its unique circumstances. Diving into the details of contracts will not bring vaccines to Canada any quicker, so we strongly recommend that we keep these contracts confidential.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Mr. Davies.

That wraps up round two and that brings our meeting today to a close.

Thank you to the witnesses and to all the members.

With that, we are adjourned.