big pharma

The United States government last night moved to support a waiver of intellectual property protections of the Covid-19 vaccine. The People’s Vaccine Alliance has been campaigning to suspend Covid-19 intellectual property protections and has this reaction: This is the decision the world needed: by backing a waiver of intellectual property protections for Covid-19 vaccines the Biden Administration can increase the global supply of vaccines and deal a deathblow to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ahead of shareholder meetings for the giant pharmaceutical corporations, the People’s Vaccine Alliance calculates that Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca have paid out $26 billion in dividends and stock buybacks to their shareholders in the past 12 months.

Rich countries must open the way to cheaper mass-produced COVID-19 vaccines in order to protect every person in the world and avert a $9 trillion “worst case” global economic catastrophe, said Oxfam today. They should also agree this week to inject $650 billion more into the global economy to help developing countries cope with the pandemic’s already devasting effects.

In response to calls for a waiver of Trade and Intellectual Property Rules (TRIPS) for COVID-19 vaccines, which is backed by more than 100 mostly developing countries, being blocked again at World Trade Organisation talks by rich countries, Oxfam’s Health Policy Manager, Anna Marriott, said:“This is a massive missed opportunity to speed up and scale up the production of lifesaving vaccines worldwide by waiving the intellectual property barriers that prevent more qualified manufacturers joining the effort.

The supply of safe and effective vaccines for all is being artificially rationed because of the protection of exclusive rights and monopolies of pharmaceutical corporations, the People’s Vaccine Alliance said today.

In response to Johnson & Johnson's and Novovax release of Phase 3 Trial results of their respective COVID-19 vaccines, Niko Lusiani, Senior Advisor with Oxfam America, said: 

“Today marks yet another hopeful achievement in the fight against the coronavirus. Thanks to tireless scientific efforts, and funding from taxpayers like you and me, these two new vaccines could help turn the corner in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic. The speed that the virus is mutating is only reinforcing the need for mass-produced vaccines available to everyone, everywhere, as soon as possible." 

Wealthy nations representing just 13 percent of the world’s population have already cornered more than half (51 percent) of the promised doses of leading COVID-19 vaccine candidates, Oxfam warned today as the health and finance ministers of G20 countries meet to discuss the global pandemic. 

Big Pharma — long-blasted for gouging prices, avoiding taxes, and rigging the political process to maximize profits — has emerged as key players in the race to bring an end to the COVID-19 crisis. Who gets access to lifesaving medicines and vaccines — and when — will determine who lives and who dies.

“The pharmaceutical industry’s attempt to rubbish the World Health Organisation’s initiative suggests that they care more for profits than people’s health," said Anna Marriott, Health Policy Manager for Oxfam, in response to the World Health Organisation’s call for governments to back a voluntary scheme to share trial data and patents relating to vaccines and treatments for the coronavirus.

"In lieu of global cooperation and solidarity, pharmaceutical companies are being empowered to act as kingmakers ―deciding who lives and who dies― and using this new-found power to extract subsidies and potentially high prices for new COVID-19 vaccines," said Oxfam today in response to reports that French pharmaceutical company, Sanofi, will prioritize the US for any new COVID-19 vaccine.