Legal advisor to President Luis Abinader, Antoliano Peralta said on Tuesday on El Despertador (Channel 9) that the Dominican government’s contract with the British pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca for the supply of Covid-19 vaccines is a matter for local courts, not international arbitration. He made the clarification after President Luis Abinader mentioned his government could take the dispute over the delivery of vaccines to international arbitration. Peralta said that President Abinader means that the Dominican government will exhaust all processes as far as it has to go so that AstraZeneca does not send the vaccines that are not needed. Peralta said the AstraZeneca contract falls within the jurisdiction of local courts.
Peralta said conversations are ongoing. He said among the solutions contemplated is that the company supply other needed medicines. He said the Ministry of Public Health is handling this.
Peralta said the government has proposed receiving just the amount of vaccines for which it advanced payments. The total contract was for US$40 million, at US$4 million each vaccine.
Nevertheless, Listin Diario looks into the contract signed by the government, including the approval by the National Congress. At the time, the contract was one of “take it or leave it.” The contract allows for the “non-compliance” by the pharmaceutical company. The company would likely win if the case were taken to an international court, concludes the journalistic report.
Specifically, the clause in question that would not allow the government to claim the apparent non-compliance of the pharmaceutical company would be clause 14 on “Limitation of Liability for Claims Other than Third Party Indemnification; Waiver of Warranties”.
In section (14.1), the clause clearly stipulates that the country waives the right to claim against the company for delays in the delivery of doses and other issues about the vaccine. “The purchaser (Dominican Republic) waives and releases any claims against AstraZeneca arising out of or relating to… delays to the delivery of the vaccine under the contract,” the agreement states.
Listin Diario reports that the signed contract also removes AstraZeneca from liability in the event that the vaccine is not effective or safe or if problematic situations arise with transportation, storage or proper inoculation technique.
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N Digital
Listin Diario
30 March 2022