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Many public dollars are spent on covid vaccine research, yet the profits are only reaped by the pharmaceutical sector. Pharmaceutical corporations keep their patents hidden for the sake of profit, which prevents adequate vaccine from being produced. International health experts have responded by stating: "In times of crisis, states must not allow companies to muck around with them." The pharmaceutical business must make its patents available to the general population. This would allow vaccine producers all across the world to make vaccinations more quick and in larger quantities.
Corona vaccinations are expected to end the pandemic and allow people to return to their usual lives. This is something that both health experts and politicians agree on. When it comes to bearing responsibility for the present vaccination debacle, which has resulted in supply issues for the AstraZeneca vaccine in the European Union, there is no agreement between these entities.
To allow many producers to develop Covid vaccines, pharmaceutical companies should share their knowledge.
While politicians blame each other, international health experts have made a simple but well-received proposal in a report on German television station NDR: pharmaceutical companies should share their knowledge and patents for producing their Covid vaccines with others, allowing for the production of a lot more vaccine at a faster rate. After all, profit motives should not be permitted to obstruct effective healthcare, according to experts.
The Covid Vaccination Prize
The rapid development of Covid vaccines was not only an extraordinary scientific feat, but it was also a project that drew on public funds. Pharmaceutical corporations received large sums of money from governments all around the world. They paid for the vaccination research — and now they have to pay again: Vaccine doses cost billions of dollars to order.
The amount paid to the pharmaceutical behemoths is kept under wraps. There are only hypotheses. They range from 1.78€ to 14.84€ per dose, depending on the manufacturer. In any event, one thing is certain: Covid vaccines are costly, making them a once-in-a-lifetime business opportunity for pharmaceutical corporations.
South Africa is said to spend two and a half times more for a vaccination dosage than EU countries because they do not contribute to research and development. With this in mind, it's not surprising that AstraZeneca supplied South Africa, whilst European countries are facing deficits.
Profits from the Covid vaccination are only visible to pharmaceutical corporations.
The Covid vaccines were developed with a significant amount of public research funding. Pharmaceutical corporations must immediately share their patents, according to international health experts from organizations such as Médecins Sans Frontières and Amnesty International. Several factories throughout the world would be able to begin manufacturing and produce more Covid vaccine doses at a faster rate as a result of this. In extraordinary circumstances, such as a pandemic, passing on patents is definitely justified. Governments paying large sums to private corporations with no strings attached is a major policy failure.
"This is an emergency in which governments have funded pharmaceutical businesses at every turn." It all starts with research and development and concludes with who buys. The corporations took a minor risk. "As the pandemic progressed, that risk almost vanished," explains Suerie Moon, co-director of the Global Health Centre. As a result, vaccine technologies should be made available so that "everyone in the world benefits."
Pharma corporations refuse to transfer patents because profit comes first.
In May 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) urged pharmaceutical companies to share their data and patents. But, no corporation has ever released its rights to date. This is most likely due to pharmaceutical corporations' zealous business motives. Those who share the Covid vaccine's patents will lose a part of their revenues. But, there are now available solutions to this issue. A firm that distributes its patents, for example, can get a cut of sales if another company uses the copyrighted manufacturing process.
Despite this, pharmaceutical corporations keep their research findings a guarded secret. They're attempting to profit as much as they can from the Covid-19 outbreak. Rather than holding private firms accountable, governments are pursuing them with billions of euros. Profit motives appear to be more powerful than people's health concerns.
Source neuezeit/Philipp Stadler
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