A laboratory technician working at the biopharmaceutical company mAbxience in Garin, Argentina on Friday August 14, 2020 (illustration).

-

Natacha Pisarenko / AP / SIPA

  • According to a blog note circulating on social networks, pharmaceutical companies "will not be responsible for the side effects" of a future vaccine against the coronavirus.

  • The question is not settled: the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations has indicated that it is "in discussion with the European authorities" to develop a system of compensation in the event of side effects.

  • If the European states are ready to contribute financially, only the labs will be held responsible, insists the European Commission, however.

Who will bear the responsibility for any side effects of the Covid-19 vaccination, if the research to find a vaccine is successful?

Not the laboratories, according to a blog post published on August 27 and relayed more than 4,700 times on Facebook.

The author of this post affirms that “the responsibility of the large pharmaceutical companies will not be engaged in the event of adverse effects of the vaccine against the coronavirus.

"

"A unique situation"

An assertion that is based on statements by an executive of the British laboratory AstraZeneca to the Reuters news agency on July 30.

“This is a unique situation in which we, as a society, cannot take the risk if, in four years […], the vaccine has side effects,” explained Ruud Dobber, member of the AstraZeneca's management team, which is expected to resume trials for its vaccine next week, after a hiatus to elucidate a possible serious side effect in a participant.

Ruud Dobber then indicated that a “compensation” clause was part of the advance purchase contracts signed by this laboratory with several countries.

“For most countries, it's okay to take this risk off their shoulders because it's in their national interest.

He did not specify which countries he was referring to.

Discussions between the European Commission and manufacturers

On August 27, the European Commission confirmed that it was in discussions with the laboratories.

"To compensate for the high risks taken by laboratories, the advance purchase contracts provide that EU member states compensate manufacturers for liabilities incurred under certain conditions," the Commission said.

European countries do not seem to have much choice, with vaccine manufacturers putting pressure on governments to obtain financial aid, as the controversy surrounding Sanofi in France showed in May.

Its managing director, Paul Hudson, had then, and initially, suggested that he would grant the first vaccine to the United States, of which he praised the model.

"Compensate the patient concerned at a fair level"

The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Associations and Industries (EFPIA), which includes Sanofi, GSK, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca and Vaccines Europe, laboratories specializing in vaccines, told AFP that it was "in discussion with the European authorities" to develop a compensation system in the event of side effects.

"Any system should make it possible to compensate the patient concerned at a fair level, avoiding endless delays due to prohibitively expensive disputes and uncertain results," she stressed.

The

Financial Times

had revealed on August 26 a memo from Vaccines Europe, in which this group recommended "a complete system of compensation without fault and without litigation, and an exemption from civil liability".

The labs would remain responsible, assures Brussels

If the European states are ready to contribute financially, only the labs will be held responsible, insists the European Commission, however.

A little over three years ago, in June 2017, the European justice system increased the pressure on pharmaceutical groups.

In its judgment, the Court of Justice of the EU ruled that the responsibility of a vaccine in the development of a serious side effect could be recognized even in the absence of scientific certainty.

This decision, which facilitates compensation for accidents, was made after a decade of proceedings between patients with multiple sclerosis and manufacturers of hepatitis B vaccines, the laboratories Sanofi Pasteur and GlaxoSmithKline.

In the United States, a law allows "to exclude actions in tort for products which help to control a crisis of public health", underlines Reuters.

Donald Trump has promised that a vaccine would be available before the end of the year, an issue for the presidential election on November 3.

Media

Report information that you think is false to the "Fake Off" team of "20 Minutes"

Health

Coronavirus: The elderly and young adults, "two populations in the sights"

  • Health

  • Covid 19

  • Society

  • Fake off

  • Fact checking

  • Coronavirus

  • Vaccine