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September 8 2021 - 4:30PM
FOI emails question Morrison government speed in Australia's Pfizer vaccine deal
Karen Barlow

Health Minister Greg Hunt denies the government was slow to act on COVID vaccination procurement despite correspondence showing urgent appeals from Pfizer in mid-2020 to meet him were put off for more than a month, and weeks after the US and UK signed massive deals.
Emails from June and early July last year, obtained by Labor under the Freedom of Information Act, show the pharmaceutical giant eager to meet the minister "at the earliest opportunity", but the Department of Health instead offered the company a meeting with a first assistant secretary.
Pfizer made clear it had the "potential to supply millions of vaccine" which could "be deployed at unprecedented speed" to prevent Infections.
Australia signed the first contract with Pfizer for 10 million doses Australia in November. The the first Pfizer doses arrived mid-February 2021. Nations such as the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom signed multi-million dose deals with Pfizer in July.
The emails show the offer was passed onto the department from Mr Hunt's office as a way of introduction. It was not until August 4 that anyone from Mr Hunt's office formally met the company over COVID vaccinations.