Omicron and travel bans
- Thread starter R181
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SeanC
Forum GOD!
A vaccine for Ebola which is deadly disease, but with a very limited geographical spread outside the first world i.e. Central Africa, was developed at breakneck speed with no reference to profitability whatsoever
In the developed world for sure but for billions around the rest of the world it's not a matter of choice, there simply is not any for them.
Bob
SeanC
Forum GOD!
To depict the US as an isolated angel of mercy is unfortunately factually incorrect:
Astra Zenica who of course are British / Swedish developed, produced and released their vaccine at cost price and also readily supplied the formula to countries with the capability of manufacturing it e.g. India & Brazil
Trump attempted to buy up a German vaccine developer with overriding intent of monopolising its outputs solely for the benefit of the USA. Thankfully he was thwarted
Ebola has been around since 1976 but the 2014 - 2016 massive outbreak in Africa lit the fire to get a vaccine out into the field. The fear that this massive outbreak could spread to the rest of the world no doubt had something to do with the hasty development. One of the Ebola vaccines was developed in a Canadian government lab in Winnipeg Manitoba. The lab is funded by tax payer money iirc. I don't think waiting from 1976 to 2014 - 16 to get excited enough about an Ebola outbreak to get a vaccine out is exactly what I would call doing so at breakneck speed.
Bob
Not all pharmaceutical companies are big pharma. The IP owners for the mRNA vaccines each have ONE product commercialized, which is their respective mRNA vaccine. You are asking them to literally give up their only source of business. This one product enables them to stabilize and have a future and continue R&D investment into other products.
That said, I fully agree that in some cases drug prices are ridiculously high. The UK and European regulatory authorities actually do a reasonable job at managing pricing. The US is the worst ... seriously, THE F_CKING WORST. You can allow companies to profit without letting them profiteer, which is what the US effectively allows. Getting off-topic from vaccines, but look at what Viatris / Mylan is able to charge for EpiPen in the US versus Europe!
That said, I fully agree that in some cases drug prices are ridiculously high. The UK and European regulatory authorities actually do a reasonable job at managing pricing. The US is the worst ... seriously, THE F_CKING WORST. You can allow companies to profit without letting them profiteer, which is what the US effectively allows. Getting off-topic from vaccines, but look at what Viatris / Mylan is able to charge for EpiPen in the US versus Europe!
Thanks for pointing out the situation with the IP owners of the mRNA vaccines.
Your second point about the difference between making a profit and profiteering I agree with. Nobody expects a business to loose money. It is charitable enough when vaccines are offered at cost during a pandemic. Unfortunately even that act of goodwill still puts the cost of properly vaccinating the populations of underdeveloped countries out of reach for those countries.
We have had Americans making trips to Canada to buy the EpiPens and Insulin among other medical supplies. I understand the situation is the similar in Mexico. The driving force is the unaffordablity medical supplies for some people in the US. The cost in Europe is less than in Canada and in Canada less that the US for the same medical supplies.
Bob