TAIPEI, Feb. 18 (Reuters) – German BioNTech SE plans to deliver COVID-19 vaccine to Taiwan, the company said after the island complained that the firm had reached an agreement in December to deliver 5 million doses buy, possibly due to to Chinese pressure.
Chinese Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said on Wednesday that officials were about to announce the deal in December when BioNTech pulled the plug, but added that the deal was still pending and not was not torn up.
Although he did not directly say that China was to blame, Chen implied that there was a political dimension to the decision and that he was concerned about ‘intervention by outside powers’, so he was careful to follow the planned agreement at the time. discuss in public.
In an email statement late Wednesday, the company said it intends to supply vaccine to Taiwan.
“BioNTech is committed to ending the pandemic for people around the world, and we plan to supply our vaccine to Taiwan as part of this global commitment. Discussions continue and BioNTech will provide an update. ”
China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, has repeatedly slammed the island over the coronavirus pandemic.
Taiwan is angry at China’s allegation, simply because it can speak on the international scene for the island on the subject, while Taiwan has accused China of lacking transparency.
BioNTech has signed an agreement with the Chinese firm Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co Ltd to exclusively develop and commercialize COVID-19 vaccine products developed using BioNTech’s mRNA technology in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
In return, he agreed to pay up to $ 85 million in license fees and invest $ 50 million for a stake in the German firm.
BioNTech’s development and distribution partner for the rest of the world is the American firm Pfizer Inc.
Taiwan announced in late December that it had agreed to buy nearly 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, including 10 million from British drugmaker AstraZeneca, while the rest came from the COVAX global vaccination program and an unnamed company. (Reported by Ben Blanchard; edited by Cynthia Osterman)