Ruling a shot in the arm

Judgment exposes ‘sham of Covid-19 vaccine deals’

THE National Department of Health (NDOH) is seeking legal advice after the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, ruled in favour of the Health Justice Initiative’s (HJI) bid to compel the NDOH to provide access the Covid-19 vaccine procurement contracts.

On Thursday, the court ordered that all Covid-19 vaccine contracts must be made public by the end of this month.

The HJI, in July 2021, requested access to information related to the Covid-19 contracts from the NDOH. It had requested copies of all Covid-19 vaccine procurement contracts, memorandums of understanding and agreements, as well as copies of all Covid-19 vaccine negotiation meeting outcomes, minutes and correspondence with the following parties and/or duly authorised licence representative(s) of Janssen Pharmaceuticals/johnson & Johnson, Aspen Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer, Serum Institute of India/cipla, Sinovac/coronavac, any other vaccine manufacturer or licensee.

The HJI also asked for the same information related to the AU Vaccine Access Task Team (AU Avatt), Covax (with the Global Vaccine Alliance – Gavi/other), and the Solidarity Fund.

Fatima Hassan, founder of the HJI, said the judgment was a massive victory for transparency and accountability.

“The contracting process has been marred by allegations that the government procured vaccines at differential, comparatively inflated prices, and that the agreements may contain onerous and inequitable terms including broad indemnification clauses, export restrictions and non-refundability clauses.”

She said secrecy surrounding Covid19 vaccine procurement at the height of the pandemic was a global issue. “It is important to know what was agreed to in our name at the behest of powerful vaccine manufacturers who have been reported to have bullied governments in the Global South especially, insisting on contracts that ultimately made them huge profits, without maximum accountability and openness.

“We believe that in the current pandemic treaty negotiations, where worrying attempts are being made to water down transparency, that this judgment will support pandemic-preparedness measures by bolstering provisions on transparency and accountability.”

Foster Mohale, of the NDOH, said the department was still consulting the legal team on the way forward.

Gerhard Papenfus, chief executive of the National Employers’ Association of South Africa, said the judgment was welcomed after years of silence.

“We share the view that this was one gigantic sham. The court had agreed that the public needs to know what was the nature of agreement between the South African government and the pharmaceutical companies. Why the silence and secrecy? We are extremely excited that this has happened.”

He said many South Africans were negatively impacted during the pandemic, especially relating to vaccines.

“First of all, the vaccines were an experimental product. Many employees were subjected to this form of treatment which was entirely unconstitutional.

“It is beyond unfair and unreasonable. You cannot force a person to subject themselves to medical treatment. We are going to see the impact of this in the long run in terms of people’s health and financially, because people lost their jobs… This judgment is one step in exposing this whole sham."