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A COVID-19 vaccine - once approved - will be the currency of life and death.
Who gets it, and when, will determine the depth and longevity of this plague.
Today, I pose a question to CEO Alex Gorsky of @JNJNews, which has announced progress in developing a vaccine THREAD 1/
Who gets it, and when, will determine the depth and longevity of this plague.
Today, I pose a question to CEO Alex Gorsky of @JNJNews, which has announced progress in developing a vaccine THREAD 1/
First some brief background. Taxpayers like you and me have already contributed millions to developing this vaccine.
The US gov’t already gave JNJ nearly half a billion dollars in taxpayer funding to develop a vaccine. 2/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2020/03/30/the-us-just-signed-a-450-million-coronavirus-vaccine-contract-with-johnson--johnson/#2aac5a402946
The US gov’t already gave JNJ nearly half a billion dollars in taxpayer funding to develop a vaccine. 2/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2020/03/30/the-us-just-signed-a-450-million-coronavirus-vaccine-contract-with-johnson--johnson/#2aac5a402946
JNJ also received an est. $2.5 B in tax cuts in 2018 from the Trump tax cuts, according to us @OxfamAmerica. This taxpayer money could have been used to build our public health infrastructure, & beef up public innovation on coronavirus prevention. 3/ https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/research-publications/hazardous-your-health/
Committing to not profit off any taxpayer-financed COVID-19 vaccine, as @JNJNews has done, is a great overture.
Yet by its own estimates, JNJ can only supply this vaccine to a fraction of the world’s population by the end of 2021. 4/
https://www.jnj.com/johnson-johnson-announces-a-lead-vaccine-candidate-for-covid-19-landmark-new-partnership-with-u-s-department-of-health-human-services-and-commitment-to-supply-one-billion-vaccines-worldwide-for-emergency-pandemic-use
Yet by its own estimates, JNJ can only supply this vaccine to a fraction of the world’s population by the end of 2021. 4/
https://www.jnj.com/johnson-johnson-announces-a-lead-vaccine-candidate-for-covid-19-landmark-new-partnership-with-u-s-department-of-health-human-services-and-commitment-to-supply-one-billion-vaccines-worldwide-for-emergency-pandemic-use
This means - quite literally - deadly rationing. Gov’ts have a key role to produce & allocate equitably, yet comps like JNJ have a resp allow others the right to produce and allocate these precious health resources. This is no time for patent-hoarding. 5/ https://www.ft.com/content/b69afd98-a8af-40d9-b520-4231d9cac68f
We’re living an historical time, which demands sacrifice.
Who will become the next Jonas Salk?
When asked who owned the patent to the polio vaccine he developed: “The people I’d say...Could you patent the sun?” 6/
Who will become the next Jonas Salk?
When asked who owned the patent to the polio vaccine he developed: “The people I’d say...Could you patent the sun?” 6/
Jonas Salk left $ billions on the table so we could all be rid of polio. Choosing not to enrich himself to make others well. 7/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2012/08/09/how-much-money-did-jonas-salk-potentially-forfeit-by-not-patenting-the-polio-vaccine/#a0e6ecc69b83
So, here's my question to @JNJNews CEO this AM at its virtual shareholder meeting:
Will you commit to openly licensing the vaccine technology & sharing manufacturing know-how, so that various countries & comps can together rapidly scale-up production to meet worldwide demand? 8/
Will you commit to openly licensing the vaccine technology & sharing manufacturing know-how, so that various countries & comps can together rapidly scale-up production to meet worldwide demand? 8/
We’re all in this together. Let’s show it. The full presentation of the question here. Stay tuned to see how @JNJNews responds. #nopandemicprofiteering 9/
And for more details on the fight to make any COVID-19 vaccine a global public good, follow
@zainrizvi @SharonannMSF @DavidP4AD @Maybarduk @azzimomen @stephsterlingdc @jamie_love @peopleb4pharma @burcuno and so many more 10/
@zainrizvi @SharonannMSF @DavidP4AD @Maybarduk @azzimomen @stephsterlingdc @jamie_love @peopleb4pharma @burcuno and so many more 10/
And of course we cannot forget the amazing investors pushing for equitable and accessible COVID vaccines including @ICCRonline
