FILE PHOTO | NMG
As pharmaceutical companies work round the clock to find a cure and a vaccine for the corona virus, Oxfam has come up with a petition signed by current and former Heads of State and Government, and other leaders calling on Health ministers to guarantee free access to a safe and effective vaccine to all countries when it’s finally developed.
In reality, the petition is simply a political statement devoid of the real barriers inhibiting access
The petition’s first proposal is that countries should be empowered and enabled to invoke the Workd Trade Organisation Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health to protect access to medicine for all.
When the world managed to find an anti-retroviral drug against HIV/Aids, there was a global uproar about commercial pharmaceuticals extracting monopoly rents from the ARV IP, making the drugs expensive and limiting their access to high-risk countries like South Africa that were being ravaged by the scourge.
For developing countries, they have managed to circumvent high vaccine prices for their population through Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), which helps accelerate delivery of newer vaccines to poor counties shortening the lag time between them and the rich.
Now GAVI has entered an agreement with them to provide new vaccines at discounted prices for use in poor countries.
