COVAX, the mechanism to spread vaccines to the world..

[yield]

Finland Had a Patent-Free COVID-19 Vaccine Nine Months Ago — But Still Went With Big Pharma
Jacobin 02.28.2021

“We felt it was our duty to start developing this type of alternative,” says professor Kalle Saksela, chair of the Department of Virology at the University of Helsinki. “Back in the spring, I still thought that surely some public entity will get involved and start pushing it forward. Turns out that no situation is urgent enough to compel the state to start actively pursuing something like this.”

Saksela’s team has had a patent-free COVID-19 vaccine ready since May 2020, which they dubbed “the Linux of vaccines” in a nod to the famous open-source operating system that also originated from Finland. The work is based on publicly available research data and predicated on the principle of sharing all new findings in peer-reviewed journals.

The research team includes some of Finland’s scientific heavyweights, such as Academy professor Seppo Ylä-Herttuala of the A. I. Virtanen Institute, a former president of the European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy, and academician Kari Alitalo, a foreign associated member of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States. They believe their nasal spray, built on well-established technology and know-how, is safe and highly effective.

“It’s a finished product, in the sense that the formulation will no longer change in any way with further testing,” Saksela says. “With what we have, we could inoculate the whole population of Finland tomorrow.”
"The Finnish vaccine provides a striking case study of the many ways in which the contemporary patent-based funding model has slowed down vaccine development."

But instead of exploring the potential of intellectual property–free research, Finland, like other Western countries, has continued to follow the default policy of the last several decades: to lean fully on Big Pharma.

In the mainstream narrative, the first-generation COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca are typically presented as an illustration of how markets incentivize and accelerate vital innovation. In reality, the fact that the profit motive is the overriding force shaping medical research has been devastating — particularly in a global pandemic. The Finnish vaccine provides a striking case study of the many ways in which the contemporary patent-based funding model has slowed down vaccine development, and how it currently hampers the possibility of conducting effective mass-inoculation campaigns.

 

[yield]

Who Owns Vaccines?
the baffler. April 15
How nationalist IP-hoarding will prolong the pandemic

In an opinion piece early last month, the Washington Post’s free-market shill Marc A. Thiessen bubbled with praise for the pharmaceutical industry, which, he wrote, “mobilized to rescue humanity” during the pandemic. The headline: “Democrats demonized Big Pharma. Now it’s saving us from covid-19.”

Such a simplistic morality tale is absurd on its face: much of the suspicion of Big Pharma’s vaccines is coming from the right—or from the politically amorphous “anti-vax” movement. And even as regulatory caution and press scrutiny raise fears of side effects from the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines, about 66 million Americans were fully vaccinated as of last week. It’s been mostly good press for the big drug companies since Pfizer announced in November that its first-to-market vaccine was more than 90 percent effective, with the companies enjoying not just a windfall in new revenue, but a boost in brand awareness and public image.

 

[yield]

Vaccine makers say IP waiver could hand technology to China and Russia
April 25, 2021 Outline - Read & annotate without distractions

Vaccine makers have warned US officials that temporarily scrapping patents for Covid-19 shots would risk handing novel technology to China and Russia, according to people familiar with the talks.

As industry lobbying has escalated in Washington, companies have warned in private meetings with US trade and White House officials that giving up the intellectual property rights could allow China and Russia to exploit platforms such as mRNA, which could be used for other vaccines or even therapeutics for conditions such as cancer and heart problems in the future.

J&J, Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax did not respond to requests for comment.

A measure to allow countries to temporarily override patent rights for pandemic-related medical products was proposed at the World Trade Organization by India and South Africa in October, and has since been backed by almost 60 countries.

"giving up the intellectual property rights could allow China and Russia to exploit platforms such as mRNA, which could be used for other vaccines or even therapeutics for conditions such as cancer and heart problems in the future." Like that's a bad thing?

 

[wemakeyousoundb]

na and Russia to exploit platforms such as mRNA, which could be used for other vaccines or even therapeutics for conditions such as cancer and heart problems in the future. Without us making a penny out of it" Like that's a bad thing?

fixed it

 

[weltweit]

I should think Russia and China are busy busy reengineering vaccines as we speak, the cat it out of the bag now.

 

[yield]

Where a Vast Global Vaccination Program Went Wrong (Published 2021)

After months of struggle, the U.N.-backed Covax alliance will soon have many more doses, promising relief for vaccine shortages in poorer countries. But it faces a deepening crisis: difficulties getting shots into arms as the Delta variant spreads.

www.nytimes.com

Known as Covax, the program was supposed to be a global powerhouse, a multibillion-dollar alliance of international health bodies and nonprofits that would ensure through sheer buying power that poor countries received vaccines as quickly as the rich.

Instead, Covax has struggled to acquire doses: It stands half a billion short of its goal. Poor countries are dangerously unprotected as the Delta variant runs rampant, just the scenario that Covax was created to prevent.

The urgent need to vaccinate the world goes far beyond protecting people in poor nations. The longer the virus circulates, the more dangerous it can become, even for vaccinated people in wealthy countries.

Without billions more shots, experts warn, new variants could keep emerging, endangering all nations.

 

[weltweit]

Without billions more shots, experts warn, new variants could keep emerging, endangering all nations.

Indeed, I think that is the point that means taking care of poorer people can also suit selfish needs.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

How Bill Gates Impeded Global Access to Covid Vaccines
April 12, 2021

I quote this all the time but it really doesn't get any play. One of the many ironies in the world is that loons accuse Bill Gates of wanting to get the world vaccinated whereas he (his foundation) actively mitigate against that.

 

[weltweit]

I quote this all the time but it really doesn't get any play. One of the many ironies in the world is that loons accuse Bill Gates of wanting to get the world vaccinated whereas he (his foundation) actively mitigate against that.

I read it, but I think I need to read it again to really understand it.

How does Gates expect the world to become vaccinated?

 

[yield]

How Bill Gates and partners used their clout to control the global Covid response — with little oversight

Four health organizations, working closely together, spent almost $10 billion on responding to Covid across the world. But they lacked the scrutiny of governments, and fell short of their own goals, a POLITICO and WELT investigation found.

www.politico.com

Tl, dr: some meaningful successes but overall failed to meet targets, structure & processes were completely opaque and no accountability