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The Associated Press discovered Sunday, March 01, 2021, on three continents, three factories are ready to start producing hundreds of millions of the COVID-19 vaccine if they only had the blueprint and the know-how. Large pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca hold the formula for these vaccines and are not responding to poor countries in need.
Countries like Africa and Southeast Asia and the World Health Organization want pharmaceutical companies to share their vaccine patents to assist the global shortfall. The United States or Europe commissioned these companies to develop these vaccines.
These pharmaceutical companies claim that they need to protect their intellectual property and negotiate contracts and licensing deals on a case-by-case basis. Countries in need believe that their approach is too slow. The World Health Organization requests that vaccine manufacturers share their knowledge so that countries in need can supply the vaccine globally.
The Incepta plant in Bangladesh that has the capabilities to produce the vaccine is owned by Abdul Muktadir, and he says:
If that can be done, then immediately overnight every continent will have dozens of companies who would be able to produce these vaccines.
Muktadir continues by stating that he has a very high appreciation for the scientific accomplishments that have been made to create these vaccines, and he wants the rest of the world to benefit from them. He is willing to pay a fair price.
According to the WHO, 80 percent of the vaccines that have been produced have been administered in just 10 countries. Over 210 countries with an occupancy of 2.5 billion people have not received one shot.
Written by Omari Jahi
Sources:
AP: Countries urge drug companies to share vaccine know-how, MARIA CHENG, and LORI HINNANT
SFGATE: UK: Poorer nations should get ‘gold-standard’ COVAX vaccines, JILL LAWLESS
The Telegraph: Why the worlds poorest are falling behind in the global vaccines arms race,
Featured Image Courtesy of Marco Verch’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image by Beyond My Ke Courtesy of Wikimedia – Creative Commons License
