Is a desire for pharmaceutical profit from the vaccine killing more people than COVID-19 itself? Maybe. Maybe not.
The issue is the most contentious ethical challenge of our time—health vs. wealth. As understandable as the desire to profit, ending the pandemic ultimately comes down to ubiquitously available COVID-19 vaccines. In other words, if world leaders really want to save the world, waiving the patent for the vaccine is the best place to start.
By disclosing patent information and granting permission to other companies, domestic and foreign, to manufacture vaccines, humanity has a much better chance of eliminating this pandemic. Not only would the world return to widespread medical health, but also global economic health. In addition, allowing world access to the vaccine patent would help developing countries get the vaccines they need to distribute to their populations.
Moderna, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and AstraZeneca’s promise of a viable COVID vaccine to end this global pandemic gave hope to a world enduring more than a year of social isolation, economic downfall, and fear. Yet, the global pandemic has to end, or even slow down as promised—primarily due to lack of access to the vaccine. So, why isn’t that happening?
While Americans are fortunate enough to decide whether or not they should receive a vaccine at their local pharmacy versus a doctor’s office, people from other countries are struggling to find vaccine distributors at all.
The FDA approved the first vaccine on August 23, 2021. However, the global pandemic rages on. In America, daily new cases are holding at a steady 80,000 cases and above. Apparently, getting the vaccine is only part of the challenge. A worldwide lack of infrastructure to distribute the vaccine is also hampering widespread vaccinations when the vaccines are available.
The number of deaths from Covid is dropping in the USA, but globally the numbers are worsening. Yet, policymakers remain hesitant about a patent waiver because of the risk of reducing the financial incentive to pharmaceutical companies to innovate for more drugs to combat this and other viruses. Scientists predict that the pandemic will get worse, and the only way to effectively combat it is to waive the patent and increase access to vaccines for all countries.
Therefore, we cannot expect the global pandemic to be over anytime soon. The problem now is not just about developing a vaccine. It’s about how to globally distribute that vaccine. Without global access, we are prolonging the COVID-19 pandemic putting underserved people at risk and stalling international economic development indefinitely.
Works Cited
Grün, Gianna-Carina. “The Coronavirus Pandemic Is Far from over: DW: 12.11.2021.” DW.COM, https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-global-pandemic-trend/a-53954594.
Commissioner, Office of the. “FDA Approves First COVID-19 Vaccine.” U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA, https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-first-covid-19-vaccine.
“Covid Data Tracker Weekly Review.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/index.html.
Johnson, Linda A. “Explainer: Why Patents on Covid Vaccines Are so Contentious.” AP NEWS, Associated Press, 6 May 2021, https://apnews.com/article/patents-coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-1e39ca2f2d67bf1574c13e9a924e8468.
Rauhala, Emily, et al. “White House Announces $4 Billion in Funding for Covax, the Global Vaccine Effort That Trump Spurned.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 19 Feb. 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/02/18/5-percent-vaccine-donations-france/.
Ritchie, Hannah, et al. “Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccinations – Statistics and Research.” Our World in Data, 5 Mar. 2020, https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations?country=USA.
- United States of America