$1000. Per. Second.
Big Pharma Companies Pfizer, BioNTech, and Moderna are making a combined $65,000 per minute. Pharma companies have sold a majority of their supplies to rich countries “leaving low-income countries out in the cold” and delivering a measly 1% of its total supplies to countries categorized as low-income. Why?
Yale Economics Professor Penny Goldberg answers.
She says, “contrary to what people often read in the newspapers, the global production capacity to serve the world population exists.” However, the supply won’t increase unless a clear demand is observed. Moderna, Pfizer, and other companies are unwilling to mobilize capacity until they’re certain countries will purchase vaccines. Vaccines are incredibly expensive to hold as inventory, thus Big Pharma wants to put it to use as soon as possible.
To attack low vaccination rates, low-income countries must prove the urgency of their situation. These countries are largely anchored in tremendous debt, making it difficult to justify bulk purchases of vaccines. Contrary to popular belief, “the direct health impacts of COVID in low-income countries in Asia and Africa are substantially smaller than the impact in high-income or middle-income countries,” Goldberg says.
Deaths due to COVID-19 are “multiple magnitudes” higher in high-income countries than in low-income countries. What if these low-income countries are able to prove their situation’s urgency and express their prioritization of immunization? There would still be financial and political barriers.
While debt-ridden countries must request the World Bank for funds, Pfizer and Moderna are earning upwards of 69% profit margins and paying little in taxes (“Moderna paid a 7% US tax rate and Pfizer paid a 15% tax rate, well below the US statutory rate of 21%”). Moderna and BioNTech don’t have comparable commercial products to COVID-19 vaccines, these “profit margins result almost exclusively from the vaccines.” Patent monopolies and billions in public funding helped the three – Pfizer, BioNTech, and Moderna – to earn $26 billion in the first half of 2021 alone (2/3s of which are pure profit for Moderna). According to the People’s Vaccine Alliance, these three corporations are over-charging their vaccines by $41 billion above estimated cost of production.
Robbie Silverman, Oxfam America’s Private Sector Engagement Manager, says, “Big Pharma’s Business Model… [is] devastating for public health.”
He adds that “[i]nstead of partnering with governments and other qualified manufacturers,” these big pharma companies are utilizing their monopolies and “selling to the highest bidder.” These mRNA vaccines were only developed thanks to public funding, yet Big Pharma continues to act in opposition to the betterment of global public health.
The Biden Administration attempted to address this “supply chain” issue, sanctioning $2.7 billion in September 2021. However, these funds solely went to U.S. vaccine manufacturers. Efforts to expand production in India, Africa, and other low-income countries would still be dependent on Big Pharma.
Moderna “concluded” that it can increase global supply faster by increasing its own production rather than sharing its formula to other approved manufacturers. The pharmaceutical industry weaved the narrative that these companies were “driven by altruistic motives.”
They argued many points: Intellectual Property (IP) incentivizes creativity, IP rewards those who save lives, etc. Mainly, their argument was that sharing vaccine recipes will serve little use because low-income countries lack the facilities to produce vaccines in a safe, timely manner. According to Pfizer and Moderna, global vaccine supply would not bolster if IP rights were taken out of the equation. Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, said in May 2021 that there are “few facilities” that can properly execute the manufacturing of “mRNA vaccines.” This was disproven in a study published by the New York Times in October 2021. It identified 10 different facilities in India, Brazil, Thailand, and other low-income countries that are strong candidates for producing additional mRNA vaccines. They have already produced other vaccines and started to test their own mRNA vaccines.
As observed by the Delta variant and, now, the Omicron variant, if COVID is left unchecked, dangerous mutations can lead to increased transmission. “To truly get this virus under control, we need to end vaccine monopolies, share the recipe, ramp up production around the world and vaccinate as many people as quickly as possible,” Silverman says.
Maaza Seyoum, of the African Alliance and the People’s Vaccine Alliance in Africa, agrees, “Rich countries buying up more doses to give third shots to their residents while most countries struggle to provide first doses to their doctors and nurses illustrates the fundamental inequality that has prevailed in our response to COVID thus far.”
While IP Rights are, as Albert Bourla CEO of Pfizer says, “the blood of the private sector,” it is fundamentally wrong for private enterprise to interfere in public health. For us to end this pandemic, we need to share the vaccine recipe and use the world's full manufacturing capacity, producing doses for everyone, not just the rich.
CORBEVAX could be the solution. Developed by George Washington University Medical Researchers Peter Hotez and Maria Elena Bottazzi, CORBEVAX is a new vaccine using old technology.
The vaccine uses Protein Subunit Technology, found in the current Hepatitis B vaccine, which “involves using proteins from a virus or bacterium” to “induce an immune response but not cause disease.” This vaccine was initially developed for a Coronavirus breakout in 2003 but has now been modified to combat COVID-19. With a its positive track record, the team believes this technology would be effective. And, it is. An unpublished study in India with 3000 volunteers confirmed their belief: 90% efficacy against the original COVID-19 strain, 80% against the Delta variant, and tests yet to be complete against Omicron. The team is determined to share their vaccine formula, so they can supply lower-income countries with vaccines; its low-cost as well, coming in at $1-1.50 per shot. Today, Indian manufacturer Biological E LTD has already sold 300 million doses to the government, producing 100 million per month. Soon, manufacturers in Senegal, South America, and other lower income locations will begin production.
With continued progress, this time period may no longer be remembered for the unvaccinated billions and vaccine billionaires.
Sources:
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/01/05/1070046189/a-texas-team-comes-up-with-a-covid-vaccine-that-could-be-a-global-game-changer
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