Politics, Profits Undermine Public Interest In Covid-19 Vaccine Race

With well over five million Covid-19 infections worldwide, and deaths exceeding 340,000, the race for an effective vaccine has accelerated since the SARS-Cov-2 virus was first identified as the culprit.

- Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Anis Chowdhury

Expecting to score politically from being ‘first’ to have a vaccine, US President Trump’s Operation Warp Speed promises to get 300 million doses to Americans by January, after the November polls, following several failed attempts to monopolise vaccines being developed by European companies.

More than 115 vaccine development efforts are ongoing around the world. Eight human trials are underway, including five in China, with the most promising one government-financed. Meanwhile, affordable access is the primary concern for most of the world.

FIGHTING EPIDEMICS TOGETHER

Sixty-five years ago, Jonas Salk insisted that the polio vaccine he had developed remain patent-free. Asked who owned the patent, he replied, “The people I would say. There is no patent. You might as well ask, could you patent the sun?”

Making vaccines and life-saving drugs available freely or affordably has been crucial for containing infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV-AIDS, polio, and smallpox.

In 1958, the Soviet Union urged the World Health Organisation (WHO) to eradicate smallpox, offering funding for a plan. Surprising many, the US, already WHO’s major funder, agreed, resulting in the rivals’ most successful collaboration during the Cold War.

A PEOPLE’S VACCINE?

More than 140 world leaders and experts signed an open letter before the World Health Assembly (WHA) began on 18 May, calling on governments to commit to a ‘people’s vaccine’ against Covid-19, with all vaccines, treatments and tests patent-free, mass-produced, fairly distributed and available to all, in every country, free of charge.