Health minister: Poland won't take or pay for more COVID vaccines. EU Commission: member states are bound by contracts

"We wanted to spread the contracts for COVID-19 vaccine deliveries over a longer period, but there is no elasticity on the producers' part. That's why last week we invoked a force majeure clause, we refused to accept vaccines and make payments," Health Minister Adam Niedzielski told TVN24 on Tuesday morning.

He added that in the current situation in which Poland was experiencing an influx of war refugees, it had the right to expect the European Commission would create special instruments to handle this issue.

European Commission spokesperson Stefan De Keersmaecker was asked at a press briefing on Tuesday afternoon to comment on Polish health minister's words. "Member states are bound by contractual obligations, but the Commission understands the difficult position Poland is in," he said.

He added that the Commission would "continue to facilitate discussion between the Polish government and the company in order to find a pragmatic solution to this specific situation the country is confronted with".

Niedzielski also told TVN24 that Poland had managed to either sell or donate vaccines to countries which had not had priority access to them. "We managed to give away or sell nearly 30 million doses of these products," he said, adding that the global epidemiological situation had changed for better and that the demand for vaccines was not that high.

Poland, along with other EU members, has been receiving COVID-19 vaccines under supply contracts agreed between the European Commission and vaccine makers.

Minister Niedzielski said that Poland could not terminate the contracts directly, adding that one deal with one producer alone was worth over 6 billion zlotys by the end of 2023.