Brussels Court Orders Poland to Pay 5.6 Billion PLN and Accept 64 Million Pfizer Vaccines

A Brussels court ordered Poland on April 1, 2026, to pay — approximately 1.3 billion euros — and to take delivery of roughly 64 million doses of the vaccine it refused to accept in 2022. The Court of First Instance in Brussels, specifically the 4th Civil Chamber of the French-speaking tribunal, ruled that Poland had failed to demonstrate any legal grounds for withdrawing from the contract. The court found that neither the war in Ukraine nor the evolution of the pandemic justified Poland's decision to terminate its obligations. Romania was ordered in the same proceedings to pay 600 million euros to the pharmaceutical company for a similar breach. The verdict, delivered on what happened to be April 1, is not final, and Poland's Ministry of Health announced it would appeal.

A 2021 EU contract sits at the heart of the dispute The case stems from a contract signed in May 2021 between the European Commission and Pfizer/BioNTech on behalf of EU member states, under which Poland committed to purchasing a specified number of vaccine doses on a negotiated schedule. On April 12, 2022, Poland's Ministry of Health formally notified Pfizer and the EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety that it would not accept further deliveries, invoking the force majeure clause and citing the outbreak of full-scale war in Ukraine and the resulting influx of refugees as justification. At the time of that withdrawal, Poland held over 20 million unused vaccine doses in its warehouses. Pfizer filed suit in Brussels in September 2023, demanding performance of the contract. The Brussels court was the competent venue because the European Commission, headquartered in Belgium, had negotiated and signed the agreement, making it subject to Belgian law. The trial itself ran from January 21 to January 30, 2026, across six hearings at which both parties presented their arguments. The court rejected Poland's position, ruling that the conditions for invoking force majeure had not been met and that Poland had not proven any abuse of dominant position by Pfizer regarding pricing, dose volumes, or liability waivers.

The European Commission negotiated centralized vaccine purchase agreements with multiple manufacturers during the COVID-19 pandemic, acting as a single buyer on behalf of all EU member states. One of the largest contracts with Pfizer/BioNTech was signed in May 2021, covering an initial tranche of 900 million doses with an option for a further 900 million; ultimately, 1.1 billion doses were contracted across the EU at a total value of over 21 billion euros. As the pandemic subsided and vaccination rates plateaued across Europe, several member states found themselves holding large surpluses of doses, prompting disputes with manufacturers over contractual obligations. Pfizer also filed similar lawsuits against Hungary, where the claim amounts to 60 million euros, and against Romania, whose case was heard jointly with Poland's in Brussels.

Tusk blames PiS; Morawiecki fires back over hypocrisy Prime Minister Donald Tusk responded to the verdict with a pointed political attack on the previous government led by Mateusz Morawiecki, which held office from 2017 to 2023 and made the original decision to stop accepting vaccine deliveries. Tusk wrote on the X platform that the Morawiecki government had ordered vaccines it neither collected nor paid for, and that Poland would now face penalties he described as the result of "extreme PiS stupidity."

„Morawiecki's government ordered COVID vaccines, which it did not collect and for which it did not pay. Poland, and therefore all of us, will have to pay over 6 billion in penalties for this extreme PiS stupidity. And unfortunately, this is not April Fools' Day” — Donald Tusk via naTemat.pl

Mateusz Morawiecki responded by recalling that Tusk himself had been among the strongest advocates for centralized EU vaccine purchasing in 2021, citing an interview Tusk gave to TVN in which he argued that buying through the Union was "the safest variant" because it protected Poles from competing on the open market against wealthier countries. Morawiecki wrote that Tusk was looking "down even on the Himalayas of hypocrisy." Morawiecki also pointed to the high costs Poland bore as a result of the armed conflict in Ukraine, including expenditures related to the refugee influx, as justification for the 2022 withdrawal. The exchange illustrated the deep political fault line between the current coalition government and the opposition Law and Justice party over responsibility for the financial consequences of the verdict.

Ministry vows to exhaust every legal remedy available Poland's Ministry of Health confirmed it would file an appeal against the non-final ruling, stressing that appeal proceedings constitute a full stage of the process in which both existing and new legal and factual arguments can be raised. After a court of second instance issues its ruling, a cassation appeal would also remain available. The ministry noted that the content of the judgment requires detailed legal analysis, particularly regarding the method of executing the ruling and the practical aspects of fulfilling the obligation to collect approximately 64 million doses. Questions remain unresolved about the financial settlement model, the schedule of potential deliveries, and how such a large volume of doses could be adapted to current health and logistical needs. The ministry stated that further steps would be taken after an in-depth analysis of the judgment and inter-ministerial consultations, in cooperation with Poland's legal representative and the General Prosecutor's Office. Pfizer, for its part, welcomed the verdict, stating in a press release that it "reflects the weight of contractual obligations that enabled Europe to effectively fight the pandemic," and said it expects member states to comply with the court's decision.