Vaccinating the poorest half of humanity – 3.7 billion people – against the coronavirus could cost less than the equivalent of four months of profits of the ten biggest pharmaceutical companies Oxfam said ahead of the World Health Assembly next week.
The organization is urging governments and pharmaceutical companies to guarantee that vaccines, tests, and treatments will be patent-free and equitably distributed to all nations and people.
“Life-saving vaccines, tests and treatments shouldn’t be auctioned off to the highest bidder,” said Abby Maxman, President and CEO of Oxfam America “Governments must ensure that corporations are putting people over profits.”
Oxfam warned that rich countries and huge pharmaceutical companies – driven by national or private interests – could prevent or delay the vaccine from reaching vulnerable people, especially those living in developing countries.
The Gates Foundation has estimated that the cost of procuring and delivering a safe and effective vaccine to the world’s poorest people is $25 billion. Last year, the top ten pharmaceutical companies made $89 billion in profits – an average of just under $30 billion every four months.
The EU has proposed the voluntary pooling of patents for coronavirus vaccines, treatments, and tests in their draft resolution for the World Health Assembly. If made mandatory and worldwide, this would ensure that all countries could produce, or import low-cost versions, of any available vaccines, treatments, and tests.
Oxfam warned that once vaccines or treatments are developed, there is also a high risk that rich and powerful governments will outbid poorer nations and force their way to the front of the queue, as they did in the scramble for other essential medical supplies such as personal protective equipment and oxygen.
Many poor countries are unable to access essential vaccines and medicines due to patent rules which give pharmaceutical companies monopoly rights and the power to set prices well above what they can afford. Pneumonia is the biggest killer of children under the age of five, with 2,000 children dying every day. For over a decade, millions of children have not had access to patented pneumonia vaccines manufactured by Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline due to its high cost. After years of campaigning by Médecins San Frontieres, both companies reduced their prices in 2016, but only for the very poorest countries, leaving millions of children still without access to their vaccine.
Original source: Oxfam
Published on 13 May 2020
