Vaccine company Intravacc, owned by the Dutch state, is for sale – despite frantic efforts by various politicians to stop the sale. Edith Schippers (VVD), then Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS), already took that decision in 2015, but her successor Hugo de Jonge (CDA) halted sales during the corona crisis. Last summer, the current Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport Ernst Kuipers (D66) already announced that he wanted to continue the sale. The vaccine company itself now announces via a press release that this process has started.
Intravacc conducts research into vaccines and helps develop them. The sale has been subject to much criticism since Schippers’ intention: opposition parties and MPs fear that the Netherlands and the EU will become less self-sufficient in the development of vaccines. The Court of Audit also pointed to the possible consequences. That sentiment became stronger during the corona crisis, when the Netherlands and Europe turned out to be dependent on a limited number of manufacturers and countries.
Also read this opinion piece: ‘Keep vaccine developer Intravacc in the hands of the government’
Not desirable
At the beginning of this year, GroenLinks MP Lisa Westerveld served during a debate about the sale a motion to stop this, because research would show that financial returns are leading for pharmaceutical companies, and not public health. Privatization of the vaccine company – the only government-owned company – would therefore not be desirable. In the motion, Westerveld also mentioned the likelihood of a next pandemic.
The motion was rejected, but two other motions, tabled during the same debate, were passed. With this, MPs Joba van den Berg (CDA) and Judith Tielen (VVD) set conditions for the sale, such as a buyer in the EU and a plan to promote the Dutch interest in the development of vaccines within Europe.
In a letter to the House of Representatives, Kuipers wrote last summer that shareholding in Intravacc is not necessary “to safeguard the public interest in vaccine development”. The sale is the right decision, according to the minister, because it would enable Intravacc to attract more money.