regardless of whether or not the shipment arrives: on time, damaged, or at all
Weren't extremely generous provisions like that offered by the US government last year in order to jumpstart vaccine development and production ASAP?
Yes, that's operation warp speed and it worked great. That's the reason the US.had vaccine enough to go around while Canada was struggling to get everyone their first dose.
>Governments have to pay, regardless of whether or not the shipment arrives: on time, damaged, or at all
Wouldn't this be standard language in any contract? If I buy a widget and they ship it to me, if it gets damaged in transit, or lost in transit I still have to pay the producer, I then go after the delivery company (and/or their insurance) for compensation.
I've never handled such things for a business, but I'd assume it'd be the same as in my personal life - that's the seller's problem?
If something arrives (late, if I care) damaged, or not at all, from Amazon or whatever, I tell them and they refund me or ship a replacement.
Pfizer has also been strong arming small, Latin American countries, to the tune of trying to get military assets as "collateral" (https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/news/company-news/...)