The EU Parliament member had questioned why the international entity had purchased billions of doses of vaccines “at a time when there was absolutely no proof of the effectiveness, and especially not of the harmfulness” of the drug.
QUICK FACTS:
- The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), an independent public prosecution office of the European Union (EU), confirmed on Friday that it is conducting an “ongoing investigation into the acquisition of COVID-19 vaccines in the European Union.”
- The office said the “exceptional confirmation” had come “after the extremely high public interest.”
- “No further details will be made public at this stage,” the short announcement concluded.
HOW THE CONTROVERSY STARTED:
- Mislav Kolakusic of the European Parliament recently claimed that the EU’s purchase of COVID-19 vaccines had become the biggest corruption scandal in world history.
- “The purchase of 4.5 billion doses of the Covid-19 vaccine for 450 million EU residents is the biggest corruption scandal in the history of mankind,” Kolakusic stated.
- In the video posted to Twitter, Kolakusic raised concerns directed to the Head of the EU European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, over the governing body buying up billions of vaccines to be given to European citizens even though the drug’s effectiveness had not yet been tested.
- “Today, 10 of us MEPs asked her the following question: Why will she present to us, the members of the European Parliament, as well as the EU citizens whom she supposedly represents, the communication she had with Pfizer during the procurement of 4.5 billion doses of vaccines at a time when there was absolutely no proof of the effectiveness, and especially not of the harmfulness of that product?” he asked.
BACKGROUND:
- Kolakusic tweeted on Friday about the EPPO’s announcement, thanking public outcry for prompting the organization to open an investigation into its procurement of vaccines.
- “I call for an independent investigation without any political influence,” he concluded.
- Senior Pfizer executive Janine Small admitted on Monday while testifying before the European Union Parliament that the drug company didn’t know whether its mRNA COVID vaccine prevented transmission of the virus when it began rolling out the shots worldwide.