The European Commission is brazenly claiming that text messages exchanged between its President Ursula von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla during COVID-19 vaccine negotiations have supposedly disappeared. The messages have been sought by the New York Times since 2022 and became the subject of a legal battle. Despite a court ruling in favor of disclosure, the Commission is now asserting that the messages were never retained for public access. Von der Leyen’s chief of cabinet, Björn Seibert, reportedly read the texts in 2021 and decided not to preserve them, claiming they were only used to arrange phone calls.
The Commission’s explanation further states that Von der Leyen’s phone was replaced several times and that older devices were wiped and recycled, making recovery of the texts impossible. However, critics argue this is part of a broader pattern of opacity surrounding the EU’s largest ever vaccine contract, including undisclosed negotiation details and financial terms.
In a key ruling in May 2025, judges at the European Court of Justice’s General Court said the Commission had failed to meet transparency obligations and must provide credible explanations for the missing records. Should it decide to do so, the New York Times can still potentially return to court to further challenge the continued failure to supply them.
To learn more about the background to this news story, see this article on our website.
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August 8, 2025European Commission Let ‘Pfizergate’ Text Messages Disappear
News
The European Commission allowed key text messages between European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Pfizer’s CEO to vanish during COVID-19 vaccine talks, a letter to the New York Times reveals.
[Source: euractiv.com]
[Image source: Adobe Stock]
Comment
The European Commission is brazenly claiming that text messages exchanged between its President Ursula von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla during COVID-19 vaccine negotiations have supposedly disappeared. The messages have been sought by the New York Times since 2022 and became the subject of a legal battle. Despite a court ruling in favor of disclosure, the Commission is now asserting that the messages were never retained for public access. Von der Leyen’s chief of cabinet, Björn Seibert, reportedly read the texts in 2021 and decided not to preserve them, claiming they were only used to arrange phone calls.
The Commission’s explanation further states that Von der Leyen’s phone was replaced several times and that older devices were wiped and recycled, making recovery of the texts impossible. However, critics argue this is part of a broader pattern of opacity surrounding the EU’s largest ever vaccine contract, including undisclosed negotiation details and financial terms.
In a key ruling in May 2025, judges at the European Court of Justice’s General Court said the Commission had failed to meet transparency obligations and must provide credible explanations for the missing records. Should it decide to do so, the New York Times can still potentially return to court to further challenge the continued failure to supply them.
To learn more about the background to this news story, see this article on our website.
Dr. Rath Health Foundation
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