As more information has come to light regarding the COVID-19 vaccine and its efficacy, federal, state, and local public health entities recommending COVID-19 booster vaccines. The California Department of Public Health has encouraged the public to receive booster shots to “help keep immunity strong and increase protection against COVID-19.”
While the United States encourages the public to boost, as per the World Health Organization, countries around the globe are desperate for even their first dose of the vaccine. The World Health Organization’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus criticized blanket COVID-19 booster programs saying, “Blanket booster programs are likely to prolong the pandemic, rather than ending it, by diverting supply to countries that already have high levels of vaccination coverage, giving the virus more opportunity to spread and mutate.”
Mendocino County Public Health Officer Dr. Andy Coren told us he agreed with the World Health Organization’s concerns that “failing to vaccinate the population of the whole world as quick as possible is detrimental to all and will prolong the epidemic.”
Dr. Coren went on to argue that scarcity of the COVID-19 vaccine in nations around the globe was not a result of blanket booster programs, but a result of the “profit and control by the powerful and rich few” who have held tightly onto the intellectual property associated with the COVID-19 vaccination rather than share with manufacturers around the world.
Companies like Moderna, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and AstraZeneca stand to make billions in profits from the COVID-19 vaccines. Despite the Biden administration’s support for the waiving of intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines, these companies still retain control limiting the world supply and prolonging the pandemic.
The globe’s vaccine deserts are not a result of the “concern for quality control, quality care, or any care for anything,” Dr. Coren asserted. These shortages are a result of failing to act on the principle that these “patents would be shared so the many competent manufacturers in other countries could manufacture on their own.” Dr. Coren characterized these companies prioritizing profits over global health as “unconscionable and harmful to everyone, all over the world.”
Whether the push for boosters in the United States will result in the Center for Disease Control redefining being fully vaccinated as having boosters remains to be seen. Statewide 43.3% of Californians have received their COVID-19 booster and public health entities continue to message the importance as the omicron variant sweeps across the United States.
As recently as two weeks ago, the White House continues to collaborate with industry and the World Trade Organization to waive these intellectual property rights, a major obstacle to ending the worldwide pandemic.
It seems to me, that since elderly Americans are most at risk from perishing from Covid, let’s focus on 100% vaccine distribution for them before we save the rest of the world. Yes, it’s virtuous to dream sugar plum thoughts concerning whole planet, herd immunity, but should we not first take care of our own before we save the rest of the world? Drug companies ripping us off? Shocking, but this has been going on for a hundred years and our own dear president has has been on the receiving end of their largess during his many years in office, so no help at all will be forthcoming from him.
His comments display a profound ignorance of how the world works. People do not put their money and time at risk if the end result is to have others take it away. The fact that vaccines of all types are available and affordable is because of patent protection. This is not hard to understand. What is hard to understand is why the vaccinated are getting Covid but Dr. Coren nonetheless insists that vaccines are effective. And why is CA and Mendocino County still under a state of emergency when the number of deaths from Omicron was, as of a few days ago, one despite millions of cases reported?
John- Dr. Coren’s analysis isn’t in isolation. There is a large body of research and advocates who have argued for the waiving of these intellectual property rights for maximizing global vaccination supply. From my vantage point, arguing for these pharmaceutical companies to retain intellectual property rights is like starting a GoFundMe for the family that owns the mansion on the hill to help them replace their gold lions with platinum ones.
The “profit equals innovation” argument doesn’t take into consideration the benefits of an open source approach, as seen in the tech industry, that can also lead to innovation.
Should these companies profit for their work? Yes. Is this an artificial shortage that could be remedied by empowering other manufacturers? Yes. From a Hippocratic Oath lens, the right thing at this juncture would be considering a profit model for these companies and a global distribution of the manufacturing. All could benefit.
Important to remember that much of the “work” of these companies was paid for by the federal government. They also purchased millions of doses in advance. They are also doing their best to “mandate” said pharmaceutical product.
So here is the situation:
Some R +D costs paid for by the govt,
Billions in sales from govt. pre-orders,
Govt. is currently your “sales force”, a service these companies are getting for free.
Pharmaceutical companies are completely immune from any injuries or damages their products cause.
Can the situation be any better for these companies?
Biggest costs for a drug maker are R+D costs and paying your sales force to sell your product. Easy to see how a company like Pfizer can post $35 billion in profits for one year with this type of scenario.
Great questions John, why are we still under a state of emergency? Easy answer, to maintain emergency powers. Sad.
Dr. Coren – perhaps it is time to consider Ivermectin as a risk management early treatment protocol. it is very cheap and has now been proven to work.
It is categorically prohibited to recommend Ivermectin and other proven treatments, with the threat of sanction or even loss of license.
Pfizer dba FDA, Pfizer dba NIH and Pfizer dba CDC have it all wrapped up with “agency capture.”
great points brought up by Michael, John and Matt.
it gives me hope for a light at the end of this very dark tunnel.
what we are up against with big pharma is highlighted in some of the videos here.
https://www.infowars.com/posts/pharmacist-shocked-to-discover-vaccine-inserts-are-blank-i-shouldnt-be-giving-these-out/
ps – it is good to see that all of you seem to bring up some vital points which are indeed getting to the issue at hand, in spite of your differing on other points
folks should be able to earn money from their labor. but there is a conspiracy at work with big pharma and the players ID’d in the following link
it’s all about the money. the folks in this video helped to develop this whole “thing” and they as well are laughing their way to the bank.
https://ncrenegade.com/lyin-traitors/
The incredible cognitive dissonance required for Coren’s position is mind-boggling.
1) Coren asserts (correctly) that Pfizer, et. al., are more concerned about profits than lives;
2) Coren simultaneously asserts (incorrectly) that Pfizer, et. al.s’ “products” are “safe” and “effective” as “must” take them.
So, WHY should we trust Pfizer, et. al., with our lives?
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/doublethink
The incredible cognitive dissonance required for Coren’s position is mind-boggling.
1) Coren asserts (correctly) that Pfizer, et. al., are more concerned about profits than lives;
2) Coren simultaneously asserts (incorrectly) that Pfizer, et. al.’s “products” are “safe” and “effective” and we “must” take them.
So, WHY should we trust Pfizer, et. al., with our lives?
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/doublethink