Pfizer cries foul, accusing Ottawa of no-bid RSV vaccine deal
A federal trade tribunal is investigating Pfizer’s complaint that Ottawa bought RSV vaccines without competition. It comes following increased public awareness that Health Canada privately asked Pfizer to remove an undisclosed contaminant from its COVID shots, and it wouldn’t commit.
It’s not every day that Big Pharma cries foul about government process, but this time, Pfizer is the one complaining.
A notice of inquiry in the November 7 Canada Gazette shows the Canadian International Trade Tribunal is reviewing a complaint from Pfizer Canada. The company alleges that Public Services and Procurement Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada sole-sourced a purchase of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccines, currently promoted for seniors and pregnant women. Pfizer says skipping an open competition breached the Canadian Free Trade Agreement.
The tribunal opened the inquiry on October 23.
As it turns out, sole sourcing can be justified when only one supplier makes a product, but currently, there are three companies that have adult RSV vaccines authorized in Canada, so that argument doesn’t hold up.
The notice also fails to name the winning company, the number of doses or the contract’s value. A search of CanadaBuys and the federal proactive disclosure database found no public record of the award, though it is worth noting that disclosures can lag by months.
The timeline, however, is curious.
In October 2025, Pfizer announced that its RSV shot, Abrysvo, had won public funding in several provinces through a national tender. This fall, British Columbia launched a program using only Moderna’s mRNA shot, mResvia. Quebec added mResvia and GSK’s Arexvy to pharmacy coverage and dropped Abrysvo. Provinces run their own programs, so none of this confirms what the federal contract covered.
Interestingly, every product currently on the market comes with missing information.
In April, Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) said less safety and effectiveness data exists for Moderna’s shot. It flagged an increased risk of Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare nerve disorder, in people 65 and older after the Pfizer and GSK shots. Whether that risk follows Moderna’s, NACI said was “unclear.”
Then there’s Pfizer’s history with Health Canada.
Genomics expert Kevin McKernan found residual DNA in Pfizer’s COVID-19 mRNA vials, including an SV40 promoter-enhancer, a genetic sequence borrowed from simian virus 40. Records obtained through years of Access to Information work by an independent researcher show Health Canada asked Pfizer in August 2023 to remove that sequence.
A Health Canada scientist wrote the next day that, “as expected,” Pfizer didn’t commit. Reviewers still recommended approving Pfizer’s next booster, which was authorized that September. No released document shows the sequence was ever removed, and Pfizer didn’t respond when Rebel News asked.
Nothing on the public record links the RSV contract to the SV40 file. Price, supply or Ottawa’s 2022 deal for a Moderna mRNA plant in Laval, Quebec could also explain the decision.
What is clear is a pattern of secrecy, from blacked-out COVID vaccine contracts to recent no-bid federal deals.
The tribunal can recommend a new solicitation, cancelling the contract or compensating Pfizer. Its findings are likely early in the new year. If Ottawa doesn’t follow them, it must explain why.
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