Corona Daily 120: Patents Kill Millions

In 2021, the USA would have produced and reserved one billion doses to vaccinate its 260 million adults. Biden administration has said such large quantities are essential to have vaccines for children, booster doses for variants, and any unforeseen events.

Currently USA is holding 30 million doses of AstraZeneca, not even approved yet. To its south, Brazil is losing 4000 people daily to covid-19, and has approved AstraZeneca, but has no access to these doses.

Of the vaccine doses given globally, 75% have gone to 10 countries. Africa has 17% of the world’s population, and has barely administered 2% of vaccine doses. A healthy 20-year old American can soon be fully vaccinated; whereas hundreds of unvaccinated doctors and nurses have died in Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.

All this can be understood, if not admired. America’s vaccine nationalism wants to make America absolutely safe, before doing anything for outsiders.

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Poor countries will not be able to vaccinate their populations before 2023 or 2024. And if vaccination becomes an annual requirement, it will be a race that can never be won.

What is less known is that vaccine production can be dramatically expanded across the world. Millions of vaccines can be produced in Bangladesh, African countries or developed countries like Canada. Over the years, Asia and Africa can produce enough vaccines to vaccinate their entire populations. Why is this not done?

Because Pfizer, Moderna and other vaccine manufacturers refuse to share their patented technology and know-how. Their patent restrictions prevent other countries from producing their vaccines.

This is usually justifiable because innovation is rewarded by legally enforceable patents. But in this case, the US and the European governments gave those pharma companies billions of dollars. These were not loans, but grants. If the vaccines had failed, the governments couldn’t recover that money. The sponsoring governments should have either kept the patents to themselves, or included a clause in the contracts making them available equitably. When the Gates foundation gives grants, it includes such clauses. Moncef Slaoui, the head of Operation Warp Speed said the program was US-centric. Patent sharing was never discussed.

Last year, WHO tried to create a “Covid-19 technology access pool”, a platform to help developing countries make coronavirus vaccines. Not a single vaccine manufacturer agreed to join it. Albert Bourla, the CEO of Pfizer, called the concept “nonsense”.

India and South Africa have pushed for patent waivers. Biden has sided with the drug companies. In March; USA, Britain, the EU and Switzerland rejected the push for waivers.

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In effect, you have rich nations investing billions in Pharma companies, letting them retain the patents and block production expansion around the world; and allowing them to reap profits year after year. Moderna was entirely funded by taxpayers’ money, but is most restrictive on sharing knowhow. The Trump administration’s badly drafted contracts allowed this.

US federal law permits the president to seize patents and use them as it sees fit. Last month, Biden “persuaded” Merck to make Johnson and Johnson vaccines. He used wartime procurement powers. Of course, this was done because Merck was American. But if Biden wishes to think globally, he can apply the same powers to let a Bangladeshi factory acquire the knowhow free, and produce American vaccines.

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This week, dozens of Nobel Laureates and former heads of states have written an open letter to President Biden urging him to waive IP rules for covid vaccines. Hundreds of thousands of African lives were lost because of patents on HIV lifesaving drugs. In 2001, WHO had successfully managed to procure an exemption for public health emergencies. That was in the context of HIV.

Is Covid-19 not a grave enough public health emergency? It is equivalent to a World War. And in World Wars, nobody should talk about patents. Does America really think it will remain absolutely safe, while the rest of the world remains unvaccinated? American Pharma giants wish to protect American innovation. They should note that most innovators of the current vaccines are immigrants. (Pfizer’s Bourla who called patent waivers nonsense is also an immigrant).

If nothing is done, just like the coronavirus, American patent laws are likely to kill millions in the pandemic.

Ravi