Rudd vaccine intervention falls flat with Pfizer, Morrison

“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.”

Health Minister Greg Hunt claimed the report by ABC TV was “a grassy knoll” conspiracy story.

He did not mention Mr Rudd by name, referring only to “the individual in question” and suggesting key facts about negotiations with Health Department officials were incorrect.

“It’s unattributed, it’s unsourced, it’s unverified. But it’s been rejected by fact,” Mr Hunt said.

“The fact that there’s no attribution, no verification, but then the most basic element of it is false should cause everybody to stop and say: clearly, there’s a little bit of a game here.”

Mr Hunt and Mr Morrison both reported speaking regularly with Pfizer’s Australian boss, rather than Dr Bourla.

“I welcome the support from anyone who wants to assist with these things, and that’s fine,” Mr Morrison told Sky.

“But ultimately, as Pfizer has made very clear, this is a contractual relationship between the federal government, the Commonwealth government and Pfizer. It’s been a very positive relationship.”

Labor frontbencher Bill Shorten blamed Mr Morrison for the slower than expected rollout, describing it as a “shit show” on Monday.

So far 9.15 million doses of Pfizer and AstraZeneca have been administered in Australia, up by more than 894,300 doses in the past week.

As of Monday 11.3 per cent of the eligible population, 16 and over, have had two doses, well behind nations including the UK and the US.

A spokesman for Mr Rudd said he had sought the meeting at the urging of corporate bosses who were deeply concerned by the government’s failure to lobby Pfizer’s senior executives.

“As the letter records, Mr Rudd spoke with Dr Bourla in a personal capacity as a concerned private citizen – not as a representative of the federal government,” he said.

“Mr Rudd also indicated that he was not seeking to negotiate on the government’s behalf and any contractual arrangements needed to be made with officials.

“Mr Rudd’s letter is entirely consistent with public statements by Pfizer.”

The spokesman said Mr Rudd has not claimed responsibility for decisions by Pfizer or for negotiations with the federal government.

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

The former Labor leader is a regular critic of the Coalition and last week called on Mr Hunt to resign over the rollout.