TAIPEI, Feb 18 (Reuters) – BioNTech SE plans to supply COVID-19 vaccine to Taiwan, the company said, after the island complained that the firm withdrew an agreement to buy 5 million doses in the country. ‘last minute, possibly due to Chinese pressure.
Taiwan’s Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said on Wednesday that officials were about to announce the deal in December when BioNTech took the plug, though he added that the deal was still in place. pending and had not broken.
Although he did not directly say that China was to blame, Chen hinted that there was a political dimension to the decision and that he was concerned about “the intervention of external forces,” hence his caution in the time to publicly discuss the planned agreement.
In a statement sent by email Wednesday afternoon, the company said it planned to provide the vaccine to Taiwan.
“BioNTech is committed to helping end the pandemic for people around the world and we intend to supply Taiwan with our vaccine as part of this global commitment. Discussions continue and BioNTech will provide an update.”
China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, has repeatedly fought the island over the coronavirus pandemic.
Taiwan has been angered by China’s claim that it can only speak for the island on the international stage on the issue, while Taiwan has accused China of lack of transparency.
BioNTech signed an agreement with Chinese company Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd. to develop and market exclusively COVID-19 vaccine products developed using BioNTech mRNA technology in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao 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 drug maker AstraZeneca, with the rest coming from the global COVAX vaccine program and an unnamed company. (Report by Ben Blanchard; Edited by Cynthia Osterman)