No clearer indication of the dictatorship of capital than a few pharma co& #39;s controlling the global production/distrib of a life-saving https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💉" title="Spritze" aria-label="Emoji: Spritze">, creating an artificial scarcity situation where US has acquired enough to vaccinate its pop 3x while 130 countries haven& #39;t seen a single dose

Yes, the US is "hoarding" vaccines like the headlines say, but it& #39;s bc the Trump admin signed agreements w the pharma co& #39;s for distribution and the co& #39;s negotiated the terms of the agreement so that it totally prohibits US from donating or reselling to other countries

A few weeks ago, India and South Africa pushed forward a proposal to waive patent rights for vaccines, so that Global South countries could start production and begin inoculating their populations.

This proposal was blocked by the US and other wealthy members of the WTO.

They rejected the proposal on basis of the TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) agreement, but now some urge the Biden admin to waive it BUT a lot of ppl are against doing so because they say we would be handing our own research over to China (LMAO)

Last year Oxford started developing a https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💉" title="Spritze" aria-label="Emoji: Spritze">, announcing it& #39;d be open-source, that they would donate the rights to any drugmaker. Weeks later, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation intervened and convinced them to sell exclusive rights to AstraZeneca, w no guarantee of low prices

Imagine dying of something entirely preventable, bc of some made up concept like "intellectual property," designed solely to protect capitalist interests and profits.

And ofc IP discussion gets subsumed into one of geopolitical competition/nat sec. Last year, US accused other countries of “stealing” https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💉" title="Spritze" aria-label="Emoji: Spritze"> data. We never question why IP of a life saving https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💉" title="Spritze" aria-label="Emoji: Spritze"> should exist, let alone be defended. The terms of the debate are already set for us

Meanwhile, China donates vaccines, the US accuses it of sinister motives and “vaccine diplomacy.” They wage a propaganda war against Chinese https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💉" title="Spritze" aria-label="Emoji: Spritze"> saying they’re only 50% effective (against mild cases, yes, but nearly 100% effective against severe cases that require hospitalization)