Big Pharma’s Deadly Covid Vaccine Monopoly

The Intercept Briefing

The Intercept

Politics, Unknown, Daily News, History, News

4.8 • 6.3K Ratings

🗓️ 12 May 2021

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A week ago, the Biden administration announced support for waiving intellectual property protection for Covid-19 vaccines. In response, Bio, a trade association representing biotechnology companies, issued a statement saying, "The United States has unfortunately chosen to set a dangerous precedent with these actions.” This week on Intercepted: Intercept investigative journalists Sharon Lerner and Lee Fang discuss how the pharmaceutical industry has ruthlessly fought to maintain IP protection from the beginning of the pandemic despite global calls to share knowledge and know-how to end the crisis as quickly as possible. By claiming the same monopoly IP rights on Covid-19 therapeutics and vaccines as other drugs, the industry has perpetuated a market of scarcity and profiteering when a collaborative global response is needed.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is intercepted.
0:30.0	I'm Lourflin, supervising producer at the Intercept.
0:38.0	At this point in the US, more than 50% of people have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot.
0:46.0	While there are still hot spots in some parts of the country,
0:50.0	the overall number of new infections and deaths are precipitously declining.
0:56.0	After a fall in winter surge in hospitalizations and deaths in Los Angeles County,
1:02.0	the region is now on track to vaccinate 80% of adults by the end of July.
1:08.0	On Monday, the Food and Drug Administration authorized the Pfizer Beyond Tech vaccine for 12 to 15 year olds,
1:16.0	further expanding vaccine access in the US.
1:20.0	Worldwide infection rates are still rising in 30 countries.
1:24.0	India and Brazil are reporting the most new infections each day.
1:28.0	India has reported consecutive daily death tolls above 4000,
1:32.0	as hospitals run out of oxygen, beds and life saving drugs.
1:37.0	This morning, India's healthcare system is completely overwhelmed as the country grapples with the world's largest COVID crisis.
1:45.0	India's daily COVID-19 death toll has hit a record high with more than 4000 people succumbing to the virus in a single day.
1:53.0	4,187 deaths have been confirmed in the past 24 hours.
1:57.0	This second wave of the coronavirus in India has also been breaking records for new infections,
2:03.0	but scientists say the country's official numbers are almost certainly a vast undercount.
2:09.0	From the beginning of the pandemic, Intercept investigative journalists,
2:13.0	Turner and Lee Fong have reported on how efforts to maintain intellectual property rights from life saving drugs to vaccines have hindered the global response.
2:23.0	I spoke to them about the need for a global warp speed.
2:33.0	Just as soon as COVID was coming down the pike and people around the world started realizing that we were heading into a true pandemic,
	...

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