Poland Appeals Court Ruling in Pfizer Vaccine Dispute Over Billions in Unpaid Doses

Poland has formally appealed a Brussels court ruling ordering Warsaw to accept millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses and pay Pfizer billions of zlotys.

The Brussels Court Ruling

The appeal concerns the ruling issued in April of this year by the French-speaking Court of First Instance regarding a lawsuit brought by Pfizer Inc., Pfizer Export B.V., and BioNTech Manufacturing GmbH against Poland. The court ruled that Warsaw must not only collect the 2022 COVID-19 vaccines from the American pharmaceutical corporation—with the Ministry of Health calculating that approximately 64 million doses remain to be collected—but also pay the company 5.644 billion PLN, in addition to roughly 170 million PLN in procedural costs.

The dispute is being heard before a court in Brussels because that is where the contract between the European Commission and Pfizer was concluded. The EC signed the contract with the American manufacturer on behalf of member states in 2021, and under this agreement, Poland committed to purchasing a specific number of doses according to a negotiated schedule. However, in 2022, Poland refused to accept any further delivery of the doses.

Arguments Over Pandemic Costs and Contracts

In 2023, the then-Minister of Health Adam Niedzielski wrote a letter to Pfizer shareholders arguing that “profit should have its limits” and that Poland no longer wanted Pfizer’s vaccines because hosting millions of refugees from Ukraine subjected Warsaw to an “immense financial cost.” He also argued that “despite the stabilized epidemiological situation in European Union countries, Pfizer still plans to deliver hundreds of millions of vaccines to Europe.”

The Belgian court stated in April that the conditions for terminating the purchase agreement by Poland were not met, and that Poland failed to demonstrate that the purchase agreement—specifically its clauses concerning price, the number of doses, or the waiver of liability—indicated an abuse of a dominant position by Pfizer.

Ministry Defense and State Asset Seizure

According to the Polish Ministry of Health, the ruling fails to take into account all relevant circumstances of the case. In appealing the decision, the Ministry requested a suspension of the judgment’s enforcement until the case is examined by the appellate court.

The Ministry of Health asserts that the Republic of Poland is utilizing and will continue to use all available legal defense measures. Procedural actions are being conducted with the support of the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Poland and specialized law firms, according to the ministry’s statement. Details regarding the subsequent stages of the case are to be shared to the extent permitted by legal considerations.

In July of this year, the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency reported that, in connection with the Belgian court’s ruling, a seizure of receivables for due fees was carried out on the agency’s account. Why were the funds withdrawn from this agency? Because it holds funds originating from the state budget, making it subject to the procedure for debt collection.