For the study published yesterday (local time) in the USA, Oxfam examined contracts that the manufacturers of the five currently potentially most promising vaccine candidates have concluded.
Oxfam estimated the combined production capacity of these companies at 5.9 billion cans. That would be enough to immunize around three billion people as most of the potential vaccines are expected to require two vaccinations.
The manufacturers AstraZeneca, Gamaley / Sputznik, Moderna, Pfizer and Sinovac have already concluded contracts for the delivery of 5.3 billion cans, according to the report. 2.7 billion of these were bought by highly developed countries or groups of states such as the USA, the EU, Australia, Great Britain and Switzerland. The remaining 2.6 billion cans have been secured by emerging economies such as Brazil, India, Mexico and China.
Demand for „people’s vaccine“
„Access to a life-saving vaccine shouldn’t depend on where you live or how much money you have,“ criticized Robert Silverman of Oxfam America. The development and approval of a safe and effective vaccine is of the utmost importance – but equally important is that the vaccine is available and affordable for everyone. As long as there is the corona virus somewhere, the virus will be everywhere.
Oxfam and other aid organizations are calling for a „popular vaccine“ to be given out for free and on an as-needed basis. To do this, however, it would be necessary for the pharmaceutical companies to make their findings available without a patent „instead of protecting their monopolies and selling them to the highest bidder“.
