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@GYamey raises some interesting points in his @TIME article 'To End this Pandemic We’ll Need a Free Vaccine Worldwide. Who Will Pay For It?' https://ti.me/2xvt2SZ?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=social-share-article but some of the arguments need a deeper dig:
1) *How* do you prevent govs from hoarding vaccines and blocking exports to other countries without a legally binding global agreement?
2) If industry is allowed to do business as usual & is granted patents for #COVID19 vax developed w/ tax-payer $ why should we think it will pursue anything diff from its usual monopolistic behavior? There aren't any gov strings attached to the $tax$ given to coms like @JNJCares.
3) Speaking of @JNJCares and the company's claim that it will sell its COVID19 vax on a 'not-for-profit basis,' how will that be substantiated? J&J hasn't said that they're going to open their books, and the US gov seemingly hasn't made it a requirement.
(SIDE NOTE: JNJ calls its lowest global price for their TB drug, bedaquiline, a 'not for profit price' but independent research says the price is 8x more than the cost to make it. Maybe we shouldn't just take big pharma's word for it).
4) J&J has publicly cited a ~$10/dose price for their future COVID19 vaccine - may seem cheap but this is EXPENSIVE for the poorest countries of the world. This is >2x the price of the most *expensive* vaccine @gavi currently buys for developing countries.
5) A “solidarity purchasing club," ie a big pot of tax-payer $ (aka 'advance purchase commitment/AMC') doesn't assure us the doses, as has been the exp of another AMC run by Gavi which saw shortfalls of pneumo conj vax (PCV) for its countries a few x, despite the pharma pay day.
We need *systemic change* led by governments who are using our *tax dollars* to fund this research for a desperately needed COVID19 vaccine.
