Pharmaceutical firms: our for-profit public health agencies
August 6, 2021 4:55 PM   Subscribe

Pfizer and Moderna just raised prices for their COVID vaccines in the EU. And they're still not producing enough vaccines to go around. As Matt Stoller details, the Biden administration was supposed to break the vaccine monopoly in order to make it possible for factories globally to produce the vaccine and pay royalties to Pfizer and Moderna. Spoiler: they did not. Luckily for developing nations, and just like PPE and other needed items, China and Russia are stepping in with their vaccines to deliver what the West can't.

"Global orders don’t unravel due to great conflicts, they unravel because a hegemonic power stops delivering the mix of favors, coercion, and public goods that other nations rely on, such as stopping pirates, protecting global trade, or containing trans-national crime. Being able to step up in a pandemic and offer treatment and protective equipment is one such public good - the U.S., for instance, coordinated the global response to Ebola. The inability to offer these kinds of public goods leads to a loss of legitimacy, and gradually countries globally begin to reorient their choices towards a different order."
posted by rednikki (26 comments total) 26 users marked this as a favorite
 
*won't
posted by dumbland at 7:20 PM on August 6, 2021 [11 favorites]


Biden and Tai supported a waiver of intellectual property at the World Trade Organization...Such a waiver would suspend monopoly rights, and let third party companies use industrial designs, patents, or copyrights without needing permission from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, though any producer would still pay royalties to these firms....

After this waiver is adopted by the WTO, the Biden administration would then have to use the Defense Production Act to force these firms to divulge manufacturing methods and do technology transfers...The problem is, Germany and the EU are blocking Biden’s request for a TRIPS waiver, and that waiver has to be adopted unanimously.

Normally, when the U.S. wants something, we do cajoling, we bully, we bargain, we wheedle. None of that has happened. A few weeks ago, for instance, there was a summit between Biden and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Biden poured on the praise, even giving in on Merkel’s desire for a Nord Stream 2 pipeline that would undermine Eastern European security interests.


Great article, thanks for linking to this. Sometimes when nothing else works, you have to make the national security argument to get anyone in power to listen.
posted by subdee at 7:41 PM on August 6, 2021 [3 favorites]


If China and Russia are willing and able to step in at a lower price or more supply, that is a good thing. Right? Let them. That is what free markets are all about. End result is more vaccine distribution. And, if the Chinese and Russia vaccines are effective and price competitive, win-win for those getting the vaccine from them and for the world that helps stop the spread of Covid-19. Lose for Moderna and Pfizer, but that does not seem to matter to them.

When China and Russia step in and license their technology, Pfizer and Moderna lose that market so the result is the same. Other countries getting licensed technology to produce vaccine. The only question is from where.

This is progressive handwringing over the US and Germany unwilling or unable to cajole private companies to act in a way that they want. Why should they? If no one was stepping in to fill the void, I could see how that might be in the "best interest" of the US, Germany and the world, but other nations are stepping in. Forcing companies to give up or distribute their intellectual and protected capital is not how we do it. Apparently it is how China and Russia do it. Bless them.
posted by AugustWest at 8:14 PM on August 6, 2021 [3 favorites]


Kind of a side-issue: how good is the Chinese vaccine? Thailand and Indonesia seem to want to switch.
There are questions about the Russian variety also, but India is signed up to manufacture a lot of it, so one way or another, the questions will be answered.
posted by CCBC at 10:16 PM on August 6, 2021 [3 favorites]


The framing here (big manly man contests of nations, the fate of “The West” in the balance!) makes it really difficult to understand what’s going on. I want to know more about the technological issues, particularly the specific challenges involved in mRNA lipid nanoparticle manufacturing. The Germany/US disagreement is interesting too, but again the framing (duplicitous Biden and imperious Merkel! Intrigues and backstabbing!) isn’t helpful.
posted by mr_roboto at 10:16 PM on August 6, 2021 [7 favorites]


Forcing companies to give up or distribute their intellectual and protected capital is not how we do it.

Government(s) stop protecting corporate intellectual property every time a patent expires. It’s not that we don’t do it, it’s how we do it.
posted by romanb at 11:14 PM on August 6, 2021 [3 favorites]


Whilst a lot of people are raving at the Australian government for not ordering enough Pfizer fast enough, articles like this make me sit back and think, yeah, pursuing vaccine sovereignty was actually not that bad of an idea. Too bad the University of Queensland vaccine false positives for HIV so they discontinued development, and the Astrazeneca (made in Melbourne) can cause blood clots.
posted by freethefeet at 12:32 AM on August 7, 2021 [1 favorite]


AstraZeneca must be kicking themselves for committing to sell their vaccine at cost price during the pandemic.

AstraZeneca sells for roughly a tenth of the price of Pfizer/Moderna ($2-5 vs $25-42/dose), and it also manufactures more vaccines than anyone else — making it an extraordinary global public health good.

Moderna expects $18bn in revenue this year from the vaccine and Pfizer/BioNTech $15bn. But all AstraZeneca have earned is brand damage, criticism, legal battles, and a level of scrutiny over production issues that its profit-making rivals do not face. Attacks from Macron, court battles with the EU, police raids in Italy, a pointless row with the FDA over paperwork, and European politicians deliberately whipping up the (legitimate but very small) risk of clots to distract from their own failures of procurement. Some of this is the result of self-inflicted missteps and miscommunication, but much is not.

Next pandemic, no drug company will make this mistake again; shareholders come first, and there are no rewards for doing the 'right thing'.
posted by Klipspringer at 2:32 AM on August 7, 2021 [29 favorites]


> Forcing companies to give up or distribute their intellectual and protected capital is not how we do it.

It should be.
posted by Bangaioh at 2:42 AM on August 7, 2021 [10 favorites]


Kind of a side-issue: how good is the Chinese vaccine? Thailand and Indonesia seem to want to switch.

I'm in Indonesia, and I promise you people are taking whatever they can get. I REALLY hate all the anti-Sinovac talking points. It isn't as effective as a MRna shot. But it protects against death which is what you need it to do. And you know what? When we have run out of vaccines, it has been China showing up. The US sends dribs and drabs. This is a nation of 290 million people ffs.

Sorry to be cranky, but I've been watching people die around me for two months now and I get tired of this tragedy being used in some kind of dialogue about vaccine effectiveness.
posted by frumiousb at 4:11 AM on August 7, 2021 [27 favorites]


But all AstraZeneca have earned is brand damage, criticism, legal battles, and a level of scrutiny over production issues that its profit-making rivals do not face.

Capitalism's immune system warding off the threat of generosity.
posted by otherchaz at 4:17 AM on August 7, 2021 [8 favorites]


The university of oxfords stated aim in developing the vaccine with AZ was to provide broad and equitable access to the vaccine with the ability to supply low-and-middle income countries all over the world. And that’s what they’ve done.
There’s been a bit of a disinformation campaign around the AZ vaccine and I’m sure that serves those companies who have insisted in retaining their profit margins very well.
posted by stevedawg at 4:46 AM on August 7, 2021 [6 favorites]


Too bad the University of Queensland vaccine false positives for HIV so they discontinued development, and the Astrazeneca (made in Melbourne) can cause blood clots.

The risk of blood clots from the AZ vaccine is very low. You are more likely to be hit by lightning. The risk is lower than taking hormonal birth control or aspirin . It is also largely the same from the risks associated with the Pfizer vaccine. Explanation here.

Idiot politicians in Australia have done enough damage by overblowing this risk. Please don’t help them.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 5:40 AM on August 7, 2021 [16 favorites]


I'm in Chile, we got Sinovac, our cases plumetted to almost nothing. We're currently doing much better than many countries that got the "western" vaccines.
posted by signal at 6:00 AM on August 7, 2021 [9 favorites]


Wouldn't it be neato if there was literally any field of human endeavor that didn't devolve into how I'm better than you?
posted by aramaic at 6:16 AM on August 7, 2021 [8 favorites]


Um, guys.... I'm not sure that China and Russia's soft-power ambitions are entirely altruistic here.

This reads like propaganda.
posted by schmod at 6:29 AM on August 7, 2021 [4 favorites]


This reads like propaganda

Sure it does. Exercises of power are never altruistic. As aramaic said above, it would be great if everyone's focus was on beating COVID rather than chest beating, but unfortunately, altruism is in sort supply.
posted by Ickster at 6:52 AM on August 7, 2021 [5 favorites]


Um, guys.... I'm not sure that China and Russia's soft-power ambitions are entirely altruistic here.

Like, obviously? In exactly the same way the United States has operated for the past hundred years?
posted by showbiz_liz at 6:55 AM on August 7, 2021 [22 favorites]


China seems to heading towards mRNA vaccines via - Germany. Who knew?

I've no doubt that there's a whole lot of politicking and mixed motivation and legal and technical and cultural hurdles going on that this article cannot address. I look forward to a serious and balanced account of the whole thing in about, oh, ten years. I may be optimistic.

Moderna expects $18bn in revenue this year from the vaccine

Revenue does not equal profit. Moreover, 2021 marks the first year since its founding eleven years ago that Moderna (stock symbol MRNA) has ever been in the black. All things considered, I'm glad they were able to stick out the lean years. I wish more innovative tech companies were able to do so. Hell, more companies in general.
posted by BWA at 8:04 AM on August 7, 2021 [3 favorites]


So here in Singapore, the mRNA vaccines are the approved ones that are being used for the public vaccination programme. Because the country is rich and an obedient member of the western world order, we generally have no supply issues (we're also tiny, of course, just a single city).

However, there are some vaccine holdouts, basically anti-vaxxers, except most of them generally have no issues with vaccines in general. They're specifically worried about how mRNA is a new technology, and so don't want to take it for fears of unknown long-term effects. Some of this originated from media with ties to China, which was basically trying to push for Sinovac to be the vaccine of choice over the "western" mRNA vaccines. The internet being the way it is, these anti-vax groups have also been spreading generic anti-vax stuff coming from the US as well. The difference, of course, is that they are supportive of the Sinovac vaccine, and have been pushing for it to be officially recognized (for purposes of determining vaccination status).

I'm kind of mad that it feels like both sides are making vaccine choice into this very political/nationalistic issue. The vaccines are here, they're available, and people should just get them.
posted by destrius at 8:32 AM on August 7, 2021 [8 favorites]


Some of this originated from media with ties to China, which was basically trying to push for Sinovac to be the vaccine of choice over the "western" mRNA vaccines.

See also: Russia pushed vaccine conspiracies. Now it’s backfiring. Basically, Russia flooded the airwaves with disinfo about non-Russian vaccines to try to push the populace toward the Russian vaccine. Instead, it made the country one of the most vaccine-hostile in the world.
posted by dirigibleman at 9:45 AM on August 7, 2021 [8 favorites]


Um, guys.... I'm not sure that China and Russia's soft-power ambitions are entirely altruistic here.

This reads like propaganda.


And? You know what creates effective propaganda? Saving people’s lives. I passed a body being taken out of its house in hazmat wrapping. I don’t for sure agree with everything China has done (remember when I lived in Hong Kong?) but I will Stan anyone who helps here. From Pfizer and Moderna? Crickets...
posted by frumiousb at 4:00 PM on August 7, 2021


Yeah, at this point I think the best thing that could happen would be for Sinovac to come up with an updated vaccine that better targets Delta (which is ravaging our part of the world right now), and then everybody who is anti-mRNA can just go take it.
posted by destrius at 12:59 AM on August 8, 2021 [1 favorite]


Kind of a side-issue: how good is the Chinese vaccine? Thailand and Indonesia seem to want to switch.

Also somewhere around 15 million people in the US got the J&J. Which weirdly nobody is talking very seriously about its effectiveness versus infection data. There was just some recent study from Africa but the write-ups all moved the discussion goalposts to effectiveness against severe disease and hospitalization rather than infection.

As someone who is very concerned about cognitive implications of covid infection, possible long-covid, and whatever unknown long term implications infections may yield, having had shingles and knowing about the HPV cancer linkage, I refuse to mess around with avoidable viral infections even if their short term severity/lethality is mitigated by a less effective vaccine. I find this public health line and message very disturbing and undermines my trust, once again, in public health officials. Not in the covid denier direction though. The other way. This is just not being taken seriously enough by anyone.

As far as I am concerned all of these assholes in charge, even Joe Biden, are Paul Reiser in Alien.
posted by srboisvert at 6:09 PM on August 8, 2021


As far as I am concerned all of these assholes in charge, even Joe Biden, are Paul Reiser in Alien.

Aliens.
posted by mr_roboto at 8:36 PM on August 8, 2021 [2 favorites]


schmod: "Um, guys.... I'm not sure that China and Russia's soft-power ambitions are entirely altruistic here."

Because if there's one word that comes to mind when you think of the U.S. and Western Europe's soft-power ambitions it's 'altruistic'.
posted by signal at 3:53 PM on August 9, 2021


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