"EU Commission admits deleting secret COVID contract texts to Pfizer CEO"

"The European Commission has confirmed that hidden messages related to COVID shot contracts between commission leader Ursula von der Leyen and the CEO of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Albert Bourla have been deleted.

A document sent to the New York Times last week confirmed that the commission found the messages between Bourla and von der Leyen in 2021 but that they were 'short-lived' and not considered to be worth archiving. The content of text messages was limited to organizing calls between the two individuals, the EU body claimed. The document also stated that von der Leyen’s phone has been replaced several times without data transfers since then.

The text messages in question were reportedly sent between Bourla and von der Leyen in 2020, ahead of the multibillion-dollar COVID vaccine deal between the EU and Pfizer...

Von der Leyen has been under heavy criticism for the text message scandal known as 'Pfizergate' since 2023. In July this year, von der Leyen survived a vote of no confidence in the European Parliament that was prompted by the scandal...

Critics from the left and the right wing have accused von der Leyen of centralizing too much power in her commission and running an authoritarian regime, including the monitoring of all of her staff’s communications. She has also been criticized for a lack of transparency, illustrated by Pfizergate, and for the alleged misuse of EU funds."