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Criminal organizations and individuals claiming access to Covid-19 vaccines have contacted authorities in dozens of countries in the hopes that they will sign illegitimate contracts worth millions of dollars, according to documents and people familiar with the attempts.
Countries whose national, regional or tribal governments have been approached are the Netherlands, Latvia, France, Israel, the Czech Republic, Austria, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, Canada and Spain, according to people familiar with the matter.
Some of the governments have been offered vaccines from Pfizer Inc. and its partner BioNTech SE, Johnson & Johnson as well as AstraZeneca PLC, according to people and copies of illegitimate contracts and letters of intent reviewed by the Wall Street Journal. Some negotiated detailed contracts, before calling off talks and realizing the offers were scams, people said.
France does not negotiate directly with vaccine distributors but passes them through the European Commission, said a spokeswoman for French President Emmanuel Macron. Brazil ultimately did not buy vaccines offered by third-party brokers, President Jair Bolsonaro’s office said, although it confirmed there had been talks. Latvia’s vaccines are purchased under contracts signed by the European Commission and vaccine manufacturers, a representative of the country said.
Offers from individuals and companies to Austrian public bodies or to the chancellery that appeared to be serious turned out to be questionable and were passed on to the authorities, an Austrian government spokesperson said. Colombia received proposals from suppliers who then dropped them after being pressured by the government to prove they were working with drug manufacturers, according to Germán Escobar, chief of staff at the health ministry. He said the country ultimately negotiated contracts directly with manufacturers. Meanwhile, Argentina has only signed contracts directly with vaccine manufacturers, a government spokesperson said.
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