As if it weren’t already difficult enough to watch a baseball game, trying to avoid advertising nausea and inane announcers…
This, from PROGRESSIVE INTERNATIONAL
From PROGRESSIVE INTERNATIONAL No. 37 | Covid will end but global health is broken
Dear friend,
First, the good news: there are fewer cases of Covid-19 than any time since March 2020. This development has prompted World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus to declare the pandemic’s end is “in sight”. After the deaths of over six million people, long covid for many millions more and disruption to billions of lives, the world is breathing a collective sigh of relief.
But now, the bad news: the power of Big Pharma to hamper global health to line their own pockets has only increased. The world is just as vulnerable to a new pandemic as it was at the beginning of 2020.
Take Moderna, the US pharmaceutical firm that made a fortune in the pandemic. Its vaccine is perhaps the most profitable drug in history. In 2021, the company brought in $18 billion in sales of its Covid vaccine and registered pre-tax profits of $13 billion.
This mega profit has two sources: privatising the benefits of public investment and a murderous set of global rules on intellectual property, enforced by the richest countries. Moderna’s vaccine was based on research paid for by the US tax payer to the tune of $1 billion. The company could also rely on a $1.5 billion advance purchase agreement from the US. But the US state allowed the company to take that public investment and turn it into private profit.
The estimated production cost per dose of Moderna Covid-19 vaccine is $2.85 but the company generally sold them for between $18 and $24 dollars a shot.
I WILL AVOID TELLING MODERNA WHAT I CHOOSE TO DO, HOW ’BOUT YOU?
