The price at which the Russian vaccine Sputnik V will be bought by a Moldovan importer was published in the Official Gazette. This is US$19.9 per two doses. This price was obtained by Lekfarm, which represents the Transnistrian administration, for a lot of 200,000 Sputnik V vaccine doses that will be shipped to Transnistria. By publishing the price in the Official Gazette, the import of the Russian vaccine on Moldova’s territory – the Transnistrian region – was permitted.
On November 22, the Moldovan authorities will start to negotiate a contract with the Russian partners for the purchase of a batch of 200,000 Sputnik V vaccine doses for the population from the right side of the Nistru. Asked if the price for the right side of the Nistru is the same, Zinaida Bezverhni, secretary of state at the Ministry of Health based in Chisinau, said the Moldovan negotiators will try to obtain a more advantageous price.
The functionary has told IPN that the prices of Pfizer vaccine doses and of the vaccine doses received through the COVAX Facility are confidential, as the contract clauses provide. The price agreed by the Transnistrian side and the Russian partners at talks could be made public because it wasn’t negotiated by the Government of the Republic of Moldova. Lekfarm is considered an importer. The prices of the vaccine doses imported by pharmaceutical companies are registered, which is they are published.
Lekfarm is a Transnistrian importer. The contracts for the purchase of vaccine doses used on the right side of the Nistru are negotiated by officials of the National Public Health Agency.
So far, the prices of vaccine doses bought by the Republic of Moldova weren’t published as they were purchased in emergencies, for a national program. Sputnik V was earlier bought by the Moldovan authorities based on a decision by the National Extraordinary Public Health Commission and the price wasn’t registered because the importer was the National Public Health Agency. The situation is now different.
Zinaida Bezverhni also said that about 10% of all the vaccine doses acquired by the Moldovan authorities so far were transmitted free to the Transnistrian region.
