A Christmas carol in repeat. The same old scenario. Same, same, but different, as the saying goes. As we near the end of the year, countries have resumed partial lockdowns to curb the rise in infections caused by Omicron. However, the disparity between those who will be safer from Covid-19, with full immunisation, and those who haven’t even had a single dose, is much greater than it was back in early 2020, at the start of the pandemic.
Northern countries are jumping the queue to guarantee booster doses at all costs. Deeper pockets mean faster, priority access, VIP-style. The consequence is a 3 billion dose shortage of vaccines, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), affecting most severely low-income countries, of course, where less than 8% of people have received at least one dose.
The healthcare apartheid this weltanschauung creates is in fact desirable from the point of view of the likes of Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson—and ultimately, to the states that harbour these corporations and profit from them via taxes, geopolitical power and influence. Each new variant is cause for celebration at the champagne rooms of the high rises owned by these businessmen: a new product line opportunity, billions in international contracts, stock options and futures.
Big pharma wins, of course. Without counting on the additional demand caused by Omicron, Pfizer is expected to earn 31 billion dollars in revenue in 2022. “Let other variants come, right?”. Disaster capitalism at its best (or worse).
Let the record show that during a global emergency, with 5 million human lives lost (and counting), those few holding the cure in their hands refused to share it. Knowing full well how to produce enough of it for everyone, they decided to maintain scarcity, name their price and rake in cash, power and pride atop the misery of the world.
#Fem4PeoplesVaccine #TRIPSWaiver #TRIPSWaiverNow
A Christmas carol in repeat. The same old scenario. Same, same, but different, as the saying goes. As we near the end of the year, countries have resumed partial lockdowns to curb the rise in infections caused by Omicron. However, the disparity between those who will be safer from Covid-19, with full immunisation, and those who haven’t even had a single dose, is much greater than it was back in early 2020, at the start of the pandemic.
Northern countries are jumping the queue to guarantee booster doses at all costs. Deeper pockets mean faster, priority access, VIP-style. The consequence is a 3 billion dose shortage of vaccines, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), affecting most severely low-income countries, of course, where less than 8% of people have received at least one dose.
The healthcare apartheid this weltanschauung creates is in fact desirable from the point of view of the likes of Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson—and ultimately, to the states that harbour these corporations and profit from them via taxes, geopolitical power and influence. Each new variant is cause for celebration at the champagne rooms of the high rises owned by these businessmen: a new product line opportunity, billions in international contracts, stock options and futures.
Big pharma wins, of course. Without counting on the additional demand caused by Omicron, Pfizer is expected to earn 31 billion dollars in revenue in 2022. “Let other variants come, right?”. Disaster capitalism at its best (or worse).
Let the record show that during a global emergency, with 5 million human lives lost (and counting), those few holding the cure in their hands refused to share it. Knowing full well how to produce enough of it for everyone, they decided to maintain scarcity, name their price and rake in cash, power and pride atop the misery of the world.
#Fem4PeoplesVaccine #TRIPSWaiver #TRIPSWaiverNow