Senior business figures turned to former PM Kevin Rudd to intervene in bringing forward Australia's Pfizer vaccine supply

Laura Tingle - 12 July 2021

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The bringing forward of millions of Pfizer vaccine doses last week followed a back channels intervention eight days earlier by a high-powered network which included a senior business figure despairing of the government's failure to secure enough vaccine supplies, and a former prime minister.

The revelation comes amid continuing controversy, and conflicting reports, about delays and shortcomings in Australia's vaccine supplies, and why Australia is currently only contracted for 40 million Pfizer doses this year.

With changing health advice about the AstraZeneca vaccine, Pfizer is the preferred vaccine for Australians under 60 until they are supplemented with supplies of the Moderna vaccine later in the year.

A spokesman for Health Minister Greg Hunt said on Sunday that the bring forward was a result of government negotiations conducted with Pfizer Australia.

In late June, senior Australian business figures based in the United States had discussed making contact with the vaccine manufacturer Pfizer to see whether it was possible for Australia to get earlier access to larger supplies of the Pfizer vaccine as the COVID-19 Delta variant emerged in Australia.

This came amid continuing reports that Australia had bungled its negotiations with the company in talks going back to June and July last year which displayed a "rude, dismissive and penny pinching" approach, according to one source.

Australia eventually signed a deal for just 10 million Pfizer doses in November 2020, four months behind other countries.

Health Department officials have flatly denied many of these reports, but the businessmen in the US who had connections with Pfizer were hearing even more graphic accounts of how badly offended the company had been by the response to its early approaches to Australia last year when it offered access to what is now to be a crucial part of our vaccine coverage.

As a result, one very senior Australian businessman — whose identity is known to the ABC but who wishes to remain anonymous — held two meetings with senior Pfizer executives in late June, only to be rebuffed.

Senior Pfizer executives told the businessman that if Australia was to make a more serious effort, after its treatment at the hands of relatively junior bureaucrats, it would have to come from much higher up, expressing their astonishment that Prime Minister Scott Morrison had not directly spoken to the Pfizer chairman and chief executive Albert Bourla, as former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had done on multiple occasions.

The executives suggested that, in the absence of Mr Morrison, former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd — who was known to them because of his work in the United States as head of the New York-based Asia Society — may have some influence.

The network of businessmen contacted Mr Rudd and set up an introduction to Dr Bourla. A Zoom meeting was arranged on June 30. Mr Rudd sent a text message to Mr Morrison to tell him he was going to make the call, making clear he would be representing himself as a concerned Australian and not in any way as an emissary from the government.

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In a letter to the PM, obtained by the ABC, Mr Rudd subsequently reported to Mr Morrison on June 30 that, on the call, he had congratulated Dr Bourla on Pfizer's success in producing the world-class vaccine and discussed various challenges and political pressures it faced around the world regarding distribution and intellectual property waivers.

"I also used the call as an opportunity to ask Dr Bourla whether there was any possible way, given Pfizer's current international contractual obligations, to advance the dispatch of significant quantities of the Pfizer vaccine to Australia as early as possible in the third quarter this year," Mr Rudd told Mr Morrison in the letter.

"My understanding was that there were current contractual arrangements with the Australian government to deliver a total 40 million doses by the end of 2021. I did so not as a representative of the Australian government, but purely in my private capacity as an Australian citizen who cares for his country's wellbeing.

"Dr Bourla indicated that they had limited flexibility because of their existing supply obligations around the world. Nonetheless, he also indicated that a number of their manufacturing facilities were producing ahead of schedule. In response to my representations, Dr Bourla said he would personally look at "what further might be able to be done. I thanked Dr Bourla for that.

"Dr Bourla indicated that, if it became physically possible to bring forward delivery, he would require a further formal contractual request from the Australian government to that effect. I replied that that was understandable. I added, of course, that would be a matter for the Australian government and that I would pass this on to you.

"Speaking on my own initiative, I floated the possibility of Australia perhaps seeking a large-scale advance order of Pfizer's 2022 vaccine "booster" which, from what I have read, is still under development.

"I speculated that it might perhaps be possible for the Australian government to consider a commercial offer for the 2022 booster that would also incorporate a bringing-forward of the current order for the 2021 vaccine into the early part of the third quarter of this year.

"Once again, I emphasised to Dr Bourla that this was speculation on my own part, rather than me acting in any way on behalf of the Australian government.

"As Dr Bourla lives in New York, we also agreed to catch up when I return there later this year."

With no news emerging of a bring forward, Mr Rudd subsequently called Treasurer Josh Frydenberg a few days later to make sure that he was aware of the conversation.

A week later, and facing trenchant criticism from state governments about shortages of vaccine supply, and the alarming outbreak of the Delta variant which has now locked down Sydney for an unknown period, Mr Morrison initially announced on Thursday that there would be an additional 300,000 doses of vaccines – including 150,000 from Pfizer – made available to New South Wales.

A story subsequently appeared in The Australian newspaper that evening saying the federal government had secured a deal with Pfizer to lift supply to approximately 1 million doses a week, three times the weekly average of 300,000 to 350,000 a week in May and June.

Mr Morrison conducted an early morning media blitz the following morning, telling the Nine Network's Today show on Friday:

"We have been working with Pfizer now for quite some period of time to bring forward our supplies … I commend Minister [Greg] Hunt and Professor [Brendan] Murphy and Lieutenant General [John] Frewen for the great job getting those supplies brought forward."

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Pfizer subsequently released a statement confirming the bring forward but emphasising it did not involve an overall increase in the contracted 40 million doses agreed with Australia.

Guardian Australia reported on the weekend Pfizer's former president of global R&D, John LaMattina, saying Australia's delay in securing a deal with Pfizer, while "unfortunate", was understandable because its success in containing COVID-19 had afforded it more time than others.

But the amount Australia eventually secured in November was "clearly lacking" and "unconscionable", Guardian reported him as saying.

"Once the amazing and unprecedented efficacy of the mRNA vaccines was established, ordering a mere 10 million doses was unconscionable," he said.

"When both Pfizer and Moderna demonstrated the potent efficacy of their vaccines, every country should immediately have reached out to these companies to place their orders.

"In the case of Australia, enough vaccine to inoculate its entire population over the age of 18 should have been done at once. Assuming that is about 20 million Australians, this would have cost about US$780 million (AU$1.04 billion).

"How much has Australia spent on COVID-19 relief packages?"

PM met with Pfizer Australia execs on numerous occasions

A spokesperson for Health Minister Greg Hunt told 7.30 on Sunday:

"The Australian government at all levels have been proactively and continuously engaged directly with Pfizer throughout the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

"As part of this process, the minister has met with the Pfizer Australia country head Anne Harris on multiple occasions with a view to the announcement Friday on the timeframe achieved and at the level we had hoped for, which was the maximum that Pfizer had indicated might be available.

"While we were made aware of Mr Rudd's approach, we are not aware this approach had any impact on the outcome.

"The Horizons document released in June referred to the expected base of 600,000 doses per week in August up to the one million per week figure which was achieved on an ongoing basis and we thank Pfizer for their continued support.

"We appreciate all contributions from those outside of government, even if they made no material difference to the outcome."

Government sources said Mr Morrison had been in touch with Pfizer executives in Australia on numerous occasions to discuss the rollout.

Asked whether the bring forward of existing commitments was the only contract variation made with Pfizer last week and whether Australia committed to a large-scale advance order of Pfizer's 2022 vaccine booster, which is still under development, a spokesman for the Prime Minister said answers to those questions were still commercial in confidence at this stage.

A spokesperson for Pfizer in Australia says reports suggesting any third party or individual had a role in "contractual agreements reached between Pfizer and the Australian Government" were "inaccurate".

All discussions on supply and procurement with the federal government were led by Pfizer representatives in Australia, the spokesperson said.

Pfizer had a strong relationship with the federal government, with continuous engagement both locally and globally in support of the national vaccine program, including supply requests, the person said.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-11/kevin-rudd-australia-covid-pfizer-vaccine-supply-senior-execs/100284902

https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/20987041/sm_bourla.pdf

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Malcolm Turnbull Tweet

Thank you @MrKRudd for speaking to the Chairman of Pfizer to secure an earlier delivery of vaccines. Staggered the vaccination of Australians was apparently not important enough to warrant a call from @ScottMorrisonMP or @GregHuntMP to the Pfizer boss.

https://twitter.com/TurnbullMalcolm/status/1414349397337407489

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Pfizer denies Kevin Rudd helped Australia gain earlier access to COVID-19 vaccines

abc.net.au - 12 July 2021

Pfizer has flatly denied any suggestion former prime minister Kevin Rudd was responsible for Australia securing earlier access to its vaccines.

The government announced last week that Pfizer had agreed to bring forward the delivery of doses that were scheduled to arrive later this year.

A letter obtained by the ABC revealed Mr Rudd wrote to Prime Minister Scott Morrison to inform him that he had talked with the global head of Pfizer and personally lobbied him to accelerate the deliveries.

Pfizer has released a statement saying all negotiations have been conducted exclusively with the federal government.

"Recent media reports suggesting that any third party or individual has had any role in contractual agreements reached between Pfizer and the Australian government are inaccurate," a Pfizer spokesperson said.

"The only two parties involved in these agreements are Pfizer and the Australian government. "

Health Minister Greg Hunt said he spoke with the local head of Pfizer weekly, and sometimes multiple times a week.

"Pfizer could not have been more categorical, this is something we have done through multiple, multiple discussions," Mr Hunt said.

"That's actually what has achieved this outcome."

"I respect that individuals will sometimes take initiatives, and we welcome and thank them. But did it make a difference? No."

Mr Rudd has declined ABC News requests for an interview.

A spokesman for Mr Rudd said the former prime minister sought the meeting with the company at the urging of senior Australian business leaders, who were "deeply concerned by the government's failure to lobby Pfizer at its most senior levels".

In his letter to Mr Morrison, Mr Rudd said he had congratulated Pfizer chairman and chief executive Albert Bourla on producing a world-class vaccine.

"I also used the call as an opportunity to ask Dr Bourla whether there was any possible way, given Pfizer's current international contractual obligations, to advance the dispatch of significant quantities of the Pfizer vaccine to Australia as early as possible in the third quarter this year," Mr Rudd told Mr Morrison in the letter.

Mr Rudd's spokesman said Mr Morrison gave the former prime minister "some advice and later thanked Mr Rudd for his letter summarising the conversation".

"Mr Rudd has not claimed responsibility for decisions by Pfizer and — as he made clear to Mr Morrison — all negotiating powers rested with the federal government," the spokesman for Mr Rudd said.

"Mr Rudd would definitely not seek to associate himself with the Australian government’s comprehensively botched vaccine procurement program."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-12/pfizer-kevin-rudd-covid-19-vaccines-australia/100286370

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Dutton tears into Rudd's talks with Pfizer

Daniel McCulloch - 12 July 2021

Peter Dutton has ripped into former prime minister Kevin Rudd over his approach to Pfizer executives.

Mr Rudd contacted the pharmaceutical giant to secure fast-tracked shipments of vaccines for Australia.

He then wrote Prime Minister Scott Morrison a letter to brief him on the discussions, with a deal announced eight days later.

“I suspect it wouldn’t take our greatest detective within the Queensland Police Service to identify who leaked that self-serving letter,” Mr Dutton told 4BC radio on Monday.

“Kevin claims credit for many things, it used to drive his Labor colleagues crazy.”

The defence minister suggested Mr Rudd was inserting himself into the public debate because he was “bored to death in retirement”.

“I wouldn’t pay much attention to it,” Mr Dutton said.

Mr Rudd met virtually with the global head of Pfizer on June 30 and asked whether the delivery of Australia’s doses could be brought forward.

The pharmaceutical boss agreed to investigate what could be done.

On Friday, it emerged that more Pfizer doses would be delivered to Australia sooner than expected, with one million doses to be rolled out each week from mid-July.

The Federal Government confirmed it was aware of Mr Rudd’s approach, but was not aware whether it had any impact on the outcome.

Labor frontbencher Chris Bowen was unimpressed by the government’s response.

“It’s a little petty as the government to make those comments,” he said.

“All Australians regardless of your politics can welcome all former prime ministers playing a constructive role.”

https://thewest.com.au/politics/dutton-tears-into-rudds-talks-with-pfizer-c-3376776

Peter Dutton Tweet

.@MrKRudd

https://twitter.com/PeterDutton_MP/status/1414430137060192256

—

Pfizer statement

Attributable to a spokesperson for Pfizer:

Recent media reports suggesting that any third party or individual has had any role in contractual agreements reached between Pfizer and the Australian government are inaccurate. The only two parties involved in these agreements are Pfizer and the Australian government.

Pfizer is committed to delivering 40 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTechCOVID-19 vaccine to Australia over 2021. Pfizer has met its contractual agreements to date and is on track to deliver the remaining doses by the end of the year.

All agreements and supply arrangements, including dose planning are exclusively made with the federal government, and details of the agreement and discussions are confidential. All discussions on supply and procurement with the federal government are led by Pfizer representatives in Australia.

Pfizer has a strong relationship with the Federal Government with continuous engagement both locally and globally in support of the national vaccine program including supply requests.

Former SA Labor political adviser Ben Waters pleads guilty to child abuse crimes

He had a high-flying international career and a plum spot with the Opposition – now this ex-Labor staffer faces a 15-year sentence for child abuse crimes.

Sean Fewster - July 12, 2021

A former political adviser to a senior Labor MP has admitted downloading and transmitting child abuse material over an app infamously used by terrorist organisations.

Ben Waters now faces a maximum 15-year prison term for his crimes – including being in possession of videos of children under the age of 14 years.

Waters, 38, appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday, one month earlier than his next scheduled appearance.

He had been charged with one count of producing child abuse material through a carriage service and two counts of aggravated possession of child exploitation material.

He had been further accused of two counts of possession of child exploitation material.

On Monday, however, Commonwealth prosecutors said the nature of their case against Waters had changed, withdrew their original accusations and replaced them with three new counts.

Asked if the court should set a new date for the matter, Michael Dadds, for Waters, said that would not be necessary.

“He will be pleading guilty,” he said.

Waters, formerly the senior political adviser to Labor MP Nat Cook, was arrested in April alongside senior correctional services officer Stewart Ian Berry.

He has worked across several Labor MPs’ offices as an adviser for the past decade, and as a campaigner in London for the UK Labour Party for 3 ½ years.

The duo’s arrests, and that of a third man, were prompted by investigations into HIV-positive paedophile Jadd William Brooker.

In court documents lodged on Monday, prosecutors accused Waters of three offences.

They alleged that, between January 20 and 26 this year, at Adelaide and other places, he both accessed and transmitted child abuse material using the Telegram app.

Courts around the state have previously heard that app has been used by terrorist organisations including Islamic State, and by far-right extremists, for encrypted communication.

Waters was further charged with two counts of having possessed child exploitation material, at Adelaide and other places, in March this year.

The first count alleged possession of images and videos of children under the age of 14, the second of children aged between 14 and 17 years.

Waters, standing in the dock of the court with his hands clasped in front of him, pleaded guilty to all three offences.

Magistrate John Wells remanded him on continuing bail to face the District Court in September, when a date for sentencing submissions will be set.

Outside court, Ms Cook said she trusted Waters’ pleas would “enable justice to be served as quickly as possible”.

“My thoughts have been and will continue to be with victims and their families affected by these abhorrent acts,” she said.

https://www.themercury.com.au/news/south-australia/former-sa-labor-political-adviser-ben-waters-pleads-guilty-to-child-abuse-crimes/news-story/b4f566998fd2c55de7a073c671833df1

Assertive China has misunderstood Australia’s toughness

Beijing thought we could be bullied because it has mistaken the pseudo-intellectual bourgeois left support for an ‘independent’ foreign policy for mainstream attitudes.

Alexander Downer - Jul 11, 2021

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For those of us living and working overseas, it may be embarrassing that Australians are seen as a people cowering in their gilded cage, believing state medical officers who think COVID-19 can be eliminated and vaccines are dangerous.

Fortunately, we’re still admired for something else: the tough resilience our government and people have shown to China’s aggression.

This month, the Chinese Communist Party celebrated its centenary. They’ve done it in style. President Xi Jinping has boasted of the party’s many achievements and issued bloodcurdling threats to countries that may cross China. That’s standard fare for the leader of an autocratic society.

Let’s be fair: their greatest achievement has been to lift 600 million people out of absolute poverty since Deng Xiaoping’s reforms began in the late 1970s. It’s a breathtaking achievement, not just for China but for humanity.

That is not to forget, though, there have been terrible setbacks: the ironically named great leap forward, the famines, the cultural revolution and the succession of grotesque human rights abuses.

But still, until recently, China had handled its prosperity and its new found global status with great diplomatic skill. Fifty years ago, it responded to the bidding of the Nixon administration and changed the global balance of power by establishing diplomatic relations with the United States. That left the Soviet Union isolated. From China’s point of view, it was a brilliant move – as it was by the Nixon administration.

Since the 1980s, China has used its economic power to leverage itself into the centre of international diplomacy. That’s made a lot of sense. The world needs China’s economy as one of its locomotives and it needs access to its huge markets.

In this environment, China was subtly able to play Western countries off against each other. I remember during a game of golf, the then Chinese ambassador saying to me she would like Australia to be like France: a close friend of China which invested more in the relationship with Beijing than with Washington. Not surprisingly, I told her that wouldn’t happen!

All the same, we were very happy to invest in the China relationship not just economically but in building cultural, political and security ties. All this culminated in what was a high moment for Australian diplomacy: an address to the Australian Parliament by the presidents of both the US and China within the same week.

My point is, the Chinese Communist Party had indeed achieved some great things, at least since the 1970s.

Well, recently China has thrown much of this away. China has pursued a disastrous diplomatic strategy that has undermined its geopolitical objectives and aligned itself with the Putin regime in Russia and the ayatollahs in Iran. It’s not a comfortable place to be.

One of the biggest miscalculations by the Chinese leadership has been to single Australia out for special punishment. Not only has the Communist Party’s strategy been inappropriate but it has shown a complete lack of understanding of the Australian zeitgeist.

We can’t be 100 per cent sure of the thinking that went into the attacks on Australia, but it doesn’t sound as though there was much debate in Beijing about it. The decision to target Australia seems to have been an impulsive one.

Apparently the Chinese leadership wanted to use Australia as an example. Australia had criticised China over Hong Kong, Xinjiang and the South China Sea. And, more dramatically, the Chinese leadership seems to have taken offence when Australia called for an international investigation into the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Common sense should have told Xi and his team to ignore the Australian call, or else simply to say they agreed.

Instead, the Australians were denounced and economic sanctions were imposed. Abusive and undiplomatic language emanated from the mouths of official spokespeople.

I’m not sure who could possibly have made the decision for the embassy to issue a list of behavioural changes Australia should make before constructive relations could be restored, but it must go down in history as one of the silliest and most counterproductive ploys any embassy has taken.

Most seriously for Beijing, it has underestimated the popularity and importance of Australia. It has assumed Australia was a small, weak and vulnerable nation that could be bullied into submission and reduced to being a client state.

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Calls for ‘independent’ foreign policy

Ever since I can remember, there has been a line of argument from the Australian left that Australia is only a middle power and it should pursue a “independent” foreign policy, which is code for cutting the painter with the US.

In Beijing, they seem to think that reflects a widespread view in Australia. They’ve learnt the hard way it doesn’t, it is the view of the pseudo-intellectual bourgeois left, not the mainstream of Australia.

Australia values it’s “great and powerful friends”. It knows they give it substantially more weight in the world than it could ever have if it didn’t have, above all, its alliance relationship with the US.

As has been made very clear by senior officials in the Biden administration over the past few months, the US has thrown its full support behind Australia over the dispute with China. So have Britain and major countries in Europe.

Just as seriously for China, America, Japan and India have consolidated their relationship with Australia through the Quad.

Within Australia, there is as close to unanimity on how to respond to China’s threats as could ever be hoped. Within Parliament there is very little disagreement with the Australian government’s determination to stand up to bullying by China. The business community has increasingly come on side, as have many commentators.

So when in Beijing they do a stocktake on how their treatment of Australia has worked out, they might like to take the following into account.

First, they have consolidated the security relationship between Australia, the US, India and Japan through the Quad. Second, the treatment of Australia as well as a number of other countries has driven America’s allies in Europe, which had fractured under the Trump administration, back into the arms of the US.

Third, they have done great damage to their relationship with Japan. Japan’s Deputy Prime Minister last week said for the first time Japan would support the US and Taiwan should China attack Taiwan. While I would expect that to happen anyway should such a war ever break out, it is a huge diplomatic setback for China that a Japanese leader would say such a thing. It just shows how isolated China has become, and that’s all its own work.

Despite all this, we need to show China that there is a pathway out of this ridiculous impasse. China needs to reopen high-level dialogue with Australia including ministerial meetings, and begin to do that through multilateral forums such as the G20, APEC and the East Asia Summit.

For Australia’s part, we need to make it clear we would welcome that dialogue – and the government has done that – and that while we do have differences over issues like Hong Kong, the Uighurs, the South China Sea and so on, we don’t pursue a policy of containment and we don’t welcome a new cold war.

In the meantime, it has been impressive to see Australia emerge as a strong, principled and admired country.

Alexander Downer was Australia's longest serving foreign minister, from 1996 to 2007, and most recently Australian High Commissioner to the UK.

https://www.afr.com/policy/foreign-affairs/assertive-china-has-misunderstood-australia-s-toughness-20210708-p587vy