Hi John,
Monkeypox might be a very different disease to Covid, but the way it's being dealt with bears worrying similarities, with the problems of our pharmaceutical model failing to get vaccine doses out quickly or fairly.
The UK looks set to run out of doses in the coming days, with no further supplies expected until late September. This carries an increased risk of the disease lasting longer, and causing more suffering. Even more shocking, while monkeypox has existed in several African countries for decades, with more deaths recorded there than the rest of the world combined, to date the continent hasn’t received a single vaccine dose.
Can you join our urgent call on the company that owns the monkeypox vaccine to share it with the world?
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The patent on the monkeypox vaccine is owned by a Danish pharmaceutical company called Bavarian Nordic, even though the US government poured $2 billion into the vaccine’s development. Bavarian Nordic can only make so many vaccines, and is hampered by the fact that its bulk production line has been closed for refurbishment.
The company says it’s seeking deals with others who might be able to help it bottle the large stock of vaccine currently sitting in storage. Those negotiations are confidential. But we know that there are companies – like Aspen in South Africa – which have offered assistance, but have still not been given the go-ahead to bottle the desperately needed vaccines. Meanwhile, the US has already bought up the vast majority of the already manufactured vaccines.
So yet again, critical decisions about a publicly-funded vaccine – who gets to produce it, how many doses are made, who gets to buy it and at what price – are taken by a single company, behind closed doors with no public accountability.
Today, we’re calling on Bavarian Nordic to immediately license vaccine production to quality producers across the world. What's more, we want the company to share the knowledge behind the vaccine, encouraging more collaborative science which allows us to develop better medicines, and strips away the obstacles to the development of southern-based pharmaceuticals.
The story of vaccine inequality is repeating itself. But Bavarian Nordic can act today to change the ending. Please take action now.
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As well as taking action, you can also read and share our director Nick Dearden’s article for the Guardian today on this campaign.
Thank you,
Alena Ivanova,
Global Justice Now
More info
1. Activists demand monkeypox vaccine maker share recipe, as world scrambles for jabs, Politico, 15 August 2022
2. Nick Dearden: With monkeypox, profits are once again being put ahead of protecting life, Guardian, 18 August 2022
3. Monkeypox vaccine-maker urged to put ‘people before profit’ and stop gatekeeping jab, Pink News, 16 August 2022
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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.
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