Gravitas: Big pharma is blocking vaccine patent waivers

Big pharma is actively lobbying against patent waivers for vaccines. In the US, lobbyists are dictating talking points to lawmakers. While at the European Union, top decision-makers are trapped in big pharma's eco chamber. WION’s Palki Sharma tells you more. 

#Gravitas #US #VaccinePatentWaivers

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[saurabhwarudkar]

How SHAMELESS do you want to be?
Big Pharma:

[awisin]

India should concentrate more on covaxin and utilise the unused govt vaccine manufacturer facility to scale up the production...it has sufficient capacity to produce the lion share of global vaccines by year end

[jenniesiddall]

The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine. Successful people do daily what the unsuccessful only do occasionally

[joshuacherian]

Dr.Hegde is right about pharma companies. Citizens of the world excercise, eat healthy foods, breathe fresh air, dont take stress jobs and avoid medicines and diagnostic tests.

[edwardcoutinho]

We must focus on COVAXIN, to be produced in india by around 30 to 38 pharma companies . I mean, each state in india can produce Covaxin under voluntary licensing. FORGET usa and europe . Lets focus on our strength as we have more than 3000 pharma companies in india . And we are not a poor country . We collect every month 100, 000 crore as Gst . Lets use this money to fight this war .

[venkateshtirupati]

About Toolkit of congress towards india, bjp, modi got exposed

[Jake]

Actually, they are doing what any business would do - to protect their IP. Who can blame them.

[kvashishtha]

Even India is blocking India's efforts
We may issue compulsory license but we haven't so far.

[madeleinedy]

I wonder what is the "secret ingredient" they are so hesitant to release...

[knagaraj]

There are 3000 plus pharma companies in India....But we are dependent on either China or America...All these pharma companies are self reliant ....were not funded till last year for medical research...atleast govt should have funded few pharma companies and planned to manufacture from different places...There is no political will for this..

Bharat Biotech is the only pharma company having BSL-3 Lab facility....

Govt is aware that even if we assume that government does the certification in weeks time, vaccine production and hitting the market will take more than 6

What I understand is Govt is aware all this but they dont want to engage talks in creating such infrastruture....also they will not recieve kickbacks for political funding if they do it early....

Now news a hour back saying WHO recommends to drop Covidshiled saying its In- effective. What will happen for Indian govt placed orders...wondering y our govt is not showing the correct data...

Here as well I doubt the integrity of our govt when giving nod for emergency medical use....

Hoping soon covaxin is brought to Indian people soon

[hannibalbarko]

Don't just say big pharma ...Say bill

[abhishekkb]

I don't think we should pursue patent waiver. It's only going to disrupt pharma market. I don't think it would help indian pharma companies. China is definitely going to benefit if there are waivers.

[YTJOMO]

Honestly, when I see the employees of some of these pharma companies showering oodles of praises towards their employers on Linkedin, I feel like puking...
Clearly, they are happy about their fat bonuses at the cost of humanity... big pharma with no heart...

[gtwace]

If you invented something, you won't want other people to copy your invention and sell it at cheaper prices right ?

[bharatg]

Special case must be included to protect patents as well as create provision for extreme cases like pandemic as a middle ground between the Pharma and the global community . Science should not be just left at the mercy of big pocket and profiteering.

[jaganraj]

Time to nationalism of pharmacy department

[lesliecheung]

why don't India share its own vaccine to Indian pharmas ? They can make hundreds of millions if India waiver the patents.

[j.m.castillo]

Patent waivers cannot be any true democratic governments' policy as it is a violation of property rights. It's a dead issue in countries that believe in protecting property rights.

[backpropagation]

I am not sure why we are hung up on patent waivers. There are enough patent free vaccines available. What we need is manufacturing capacity. Patent waivers won’t get us millions more vaccines. On the other hand patent waiver has a dark downside - the CCP could easily exploit the situation. This is s fact. In any case, patent waivers are not the need of the hour. We need to focus on manufacturing.

[pmjbacon]

The NON PROFIT OXFORD/COVISHIELD is already the vaccine of choice world wide; produced in 15 territories including the US, EU, Brazil AND INDIA... rolled out OVER A YEAR AGO and on course to produce 4 billion doses this year.