Govt: “Preventing” vaccination programs in developing countries

Not to be missed in BBC Africa:

These rich countries include the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union.

“If we can add language that makes it easier for countries to produce more vaccines and more drugs in their own language, it includes efforts to provide funding and facilities.

“The global epidemic is demanding a global solution and the UK is at the forefront, with efforts to ensure equal access to covid vaccines and treatment worldwide,” a UK government spokesman pointed out.

A spokesman said the UK would make a major contribution to international efforts to ensure more than a billion corona virus vaccines reach developing countries this year.

The long-standing question is when and when governments should take action to ensure affordable drug supply.

But the potential of different countries through vaccines and drugs has been highlighted by the epidemic.

Many experts say that equal access to vaccines is essential to prevent cases and deaths and to contribute to the immunity of the world’s population.

But Ellen de Hohn, an expert on pharmaceutical policy and intellectual property law, says it makes up a third of the global vaccine production potential requirement.

“These are vaccines made in rich countries and are usually kept by those rich countries,” he said.

“Developing countries are demanding that we get not only the share of vaccines, but also the right to produce those vaccines,” he added.

To make a vaccine, you must have the right to manufacture the product from which it is made (it is patented), but you know how to make it because the technology can be complicated.

The WHO has no authority to avoid patents, but seeks to unite countries to find a way to increase vaccine supply.

Discussions focus specifically on the use of the rules of international law to avoid patents and to assist countries in gaining the technical capacity to produce them.

But the pharmaceutical industry argues that patents will hinder its ability to invest in future treatment for eczema and other diseases.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Representatives of the pharmaceutical industry They expressed their concerns to President Joe Biden.

“Removing these protections will affect the global response to the epidemic,” they wrote, including ongoing efforts to tackle the new variants.

Delegates argued that this would create confusion that could undermine public confidence in vaccine protection and create a barrier to information sharing.

“Most importantly, removing the protections will not speed up production,” they added.

Others agree. Anne Moore, an expert in the field of immunization, is concerned about the impact of patent weakening on future research.

“Over time, we see fewer and fewer companies and organizations getting involved in the vaccine business because yields are so low,” he says.

Pharmaceutical companies point out that they have made financial donations and medicines to help fight the epidemic.

But activists argue that about $ 90 billion (more than CFA $ 68,543 billion) of public funds have been spent on the development of Govt treatments and vaccines, so the public should be concerned. They say that once the epidemic is over, a lot of money will be made.

“It is clear that there are long-term plans to increase the cost of these vaccines once the most urgent phase of the epidemic is over. So developing countries are saying that we need to get the capacity to produce these vaccines now,” says t’Hoen.