Hi John,
Yesterday Moderna announced that it made eye-watering profits of $13 billion from its Covid-19 vaccine last year.
This is a vaccine that US government scientists played a significant role in inventing and that Moderna received $1 billion in grants to develop and trial. It then received $1.5 billion in advance government orders that guaranteed it a market. Yet despite this huge public funding, Moderna has been making a 70% profit margin on every jab. These are the sorts of profits you’d expect on a designer handbag, not an essential medicine.
What’s more, Moderna is still withholding its mRNA vaccine know-how from manufacturers around the world who stand ready to join the global vaccine effort. Even as thousands of preventable deaths from Covid-19 continue every day, and the majority of people in low-income countries remain unjabbed.
Can you join 10,000 of us in demanding that Moderna shares its vaccine know-how with factories and labs in the global south?
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There was also good news this week as the World Health Organization announced another step forward for the mRNA vaccine hub it is supporting in South Africa.
This is the project that last month revealed it has successfully made a copy of Moderna’s mRNA vaccine and plans to begin production later in the year. This week the hub announced the 11 countries around the world it will share its know-how with to spread this vaccine technology even further, including Kenya, Senegal, Indonesia and Bangladesh. It’s an example of the collaborative, decentralised pharma system we need.
But there is a battle looming over the vaccine hub, and once again Moderna is right at heart of it. Early in the pandemic Moderna said it would not enforce its Covid-19 vaccine patents, and it has even withdrawn them in high-income countries like Canada and Australia. This has often been cited by Big Pharma’s defenders as why there is no need for the suspension of intellectual property rules we have been demanding.
Since the announcement of the South Africa vaccine hub last year, Moderna seems to have changed its tune over patents. It has not withdrawn its patents in South Africa and indeed has begun to file new ones. Moderna’s CEO said last week that the company “has not decided” whether to enforce the patents in low and middle income countries after the pandemic. As we joined 60 civil society groups in warning, if it chooses to do so when Covid-19 is declared endemic, this would effectively derail all work the WHO and African scientists have put into building vaccine manufacturing capacity on the continent.
The pharmaceutical system is being rebuilt from the ground up, but Big Pharma wants to protect its monopoly profits. This is the kind of corporate greed that rocked the world in the AIDS crisis, and our global movement must come together to expose it once again.
We can start by demanding Moderna withdraws its patents in South Africa and shares its vaccine know-how. Please sign the petition today:
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Thanks for all your support,
Tim Bierley
Campaigner at Global Justice Now
PS. If you didn’t see it already, this week’s BBC Panorama documentary asked the essential question ‘Why aren’t we vaccinating the world?’ It covered many of the arguments we have been making as part of the People’s Vaccine Alliance, and it’s still available on catch-up. Not to be missed.
Notes
1. Moderna condemned for ‘eye-watering’ profits from publicly-funded vaccine, Global Justice Now, 24 February 2022
2. Moderna patent application raises fears for Africa COVID vaccine hub, Reuters, 17 February 2022
3. The People’s Vaccine — Moderna’s Coronavirus Vaccine Was Largely Funded By Taxpayer Dollars, Forbes, 3 December 2020
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Help ensure Covid-19 vaccines are available to everyone, everywhere
It’s vitally important that Covid-19 vaccine patents are suspended during the pandemic, and for big pharma to share their know-how globally, as the best way of ensuring there are enough vaccines for everyone everywhere.
Regular gifts give us the long-term stability to plan effective campaigns and the flexibility to respond to crises like these.
If you’re not already a member, will you join today?
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