Emails between Pfizer and the Australian government about a meeting with the health minister have been revealed under freedom of information.
Newly released emails between Pfizer and the federal government have been made public under freedom of information.
The documents, obtained by Labor, show Pfizer contacted the Department of Health on 30 June 2020, requesting a formal virtual meeting with Health Minister Greg Hunt to discuss the role it could play in vaccinating the country at the “earliest opportunity”.
The emails show a health department official took an “introductory” meeting with the company about 10 days later.
Labor claims it shows the government did not act swiftly enough, but a spokesman for Mr Hunt on Wednesday rejected any assertion it was slow to act.
He said the department began working with Pfizer shortly after the pandemic began.
“There had been constant informal engagements prior to that time, as the email trail shows,” he said.
“Pfizer advised however, they were not allowed to commence formal negotiations at that time.
“The department has been actively engaged with Pfizer since very early in the pandemic.
“These discussions have been extensive and cooperative.”
Pfizer Australia emailed the Department of Health in late June, according to the documents. Days later, in an email, a company representative told the department that the vaccine landscape was “moving swiftly” and that Pfizer was engaging with other countries.
“I am able to make senior members of Pfizer’s global leadership team available for this discussion, particularly if the Minister and/or Departmental leadership can be involved,” the representative said.
In a letter attached to the email addressed to Mr Hunt dated June 30, a Pfizer representative said the company had “the potential to supply millions vaccine doses by the end of 2020” which would rapidly scale up to “produce hundreds of millions of doses in 2021”.
A health department official responded to Pfizer’s emails three days later, confirming she – not Minister Hunt as requested – would meet with Pfizer on Friday, July 10.
The next correspondence from Pfizer was the following Monday, when an offer was made for high-ranking members of Pfizer to meet virtually with senior government officials to discuss a detailed vaccine rollout plan, if the government signed a confidential disclosure agreement.
If the government was not willing to sign the agreement, Pfizer said they would accept an “exploratory/ introductory meeting” for the time being.
A Pfizer representative followed up with another email to the official the following day, urging the health official to take up a 90-minute meeting with Pfizer to run through a “lengthy and highly detailed slide deck” which went into the scientific development and clinical trial process, as well as information on vaccine technology, manufacturing, supply chain, and procurement processes.
The representative said the slide deck could not be emailed, so required a virtual meeting.
The department official said the confidentiality disclosure agreement was still being finalised, and instead agreed to the introductory/exploratory discussion.
“It is not usual practice for the Commonwealth to sign such documents (as the confidential disclosure agreement) as we are covered by various legislative requirements …,” she said.
During the meeting on July 10, notes state Pfizer wanted to have discussions to “move as quickly as possible”, so that their vaccines could be deployed “at unprecedented speed”.
Pfizer also disclosed how many doses they could possibly have by the end of the year, but the figure has been redacted by the government.
The notes say that Pfizer wanted to know a timeline for doses, and what the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation’s (ATAGI) approval process was.
Almost two weeks later, Pfizer Australia followed up with the health department noting the UK and the US had signed deals for vaccine supply.
At this stage, the confidentiality disclosure agreement was still being negotiated to allow for senior members of Pfizer Global to meet with the government.
Australia signed a deal with Pfizer for just 10 million doses in November 2020.
A spokesman for Mr Hunt confirmed that the government’s first formal meeting with Pfizer was on July 10.
“(This was) after Pfizer wrote to the government advising they were now in a position to engage formally, while the Covid-19 vaccine candidate was in Phase 1 clinical trials,” he said.
“Since this time, there have been numerous formal meetings and phone engagements with the company as part of securing supply of the vaccine for the Australian population.
“The Australian government entered into an Advanced Purchase Agreement (APA) with Pfizer for the purchase of their Covid-19 vaccine as soon as possible, while ensuring safe and effective vaccines for Australians based on the medical advice from SITAG and the maximum doses available.”
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