Pharmaceutical companies have been withholding $1.4 billion in advance payments for COVID-19 vaccine doses that were never delivered as demand for vaccines in developing countries plummeted, according to The New York Times.
Gavi, a non-governmental organization which purchased COVID-19 vaccines from manufacturers to distribute in developing countries with funding from the U.S. government and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has cancelled over $1 billion in vaccine orders as vaccine demand declines around the world, the NYT reported, citing Gavi’s confidential financial documents. Several drug companies have so far refused to fully refund their payments.
Johnson & Johnson produced a vaccine order for Gavi despite the group having cancelled it, and is now demanding an undisclosed amount, according to the NYT. The pharmaceutical company Novavax won’t refund $700 million in payments for vaccines it never delivered. (RELATED: Covid Treatments Push Pfizer’s Annual Earnings To $100 Billion)
LOUISVILLE, KY – MARCH 04: Janet Gerber, a health department employee, fills out forms as boxes containing Janssen COVID-19 vials sit stacked upon each other shortly after their delivery to Louisville Metro Health and Wellness headquarters on March 4, 2021 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Jon Cherry/Getty Images)
Gavi will lose another $700 million in prepayments for cancelled orders with Moderna, the Serum Institute of India and several Chinese drug manufacturers following a settlement, according to the NYT. The agreement took into consideration the costs of raw ingredients that the manufacturers had incurred.
Vaccine manufacturers made a total of $13.8 billion through vaccines distributed through Covax, the program run by Gavi, according to the NYT. About 1.9 billion doses were shipped to 146 countries; more than half of those doses were purchased by Gavi and the rest were donated by wealthy countries.
Gavi, Johnson and Johnson, Novavax, Moderna and the Serum Institute of India did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.
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