We can't let corporations dictate the COVID response
This has been written by Simon, who is a Just Treatment patient leader.
When the news broke earlier this week that the COVID vaccine being developed by Pfizer and BioNTech has been shown to be 90% effective, like millions across the UK I felt a sense of hope, of relief and of optimism. So many of us have had our lives turned upside down by the pandemic - the notion that we might be one step closer to seeing an end to it means so much.
At the same time, after hearing the announcement I also felt a strong sense of anxiety about what might happen if the next steps of this process are mishandled, and what the disastrous consequences could be if the production and distribution of the vaccine is left solely in the hands of pharmaceutical companies.
This is a feeling I know all too well.
I’ve personally suffered at the hands of big pharma when they put their profits ahead of people’s health. As a patient with hepatitis C, I had to wait over a year before I was finally offered the medication I needed. This delay was caused by the drug’s unjustifiably high price which resulted in the NHS being forced to ration who could and couldn’t benefit from the drug. This profit-driven approach to healthcare is costing lives.
Unfortunately we are seeing that in the response to the COVID crisis, corporate greed continues to be prioritised over patients’ health.
This week’s announcement about the vaccine frontrunner came at a time when it is too early to know whether the product will actually be effective enough to roll out. Pfizer have made it abundantly clear that they intend to rake in huge profits from the vaccine. In fact, on the same day the announcement was made, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla sold $5.6 million worth of stock.
When it comes to choosing between doing what’s right for public health and making shareholders richer, we know from experience that corporations like Pfizer will always choose the latter. Their words and actions so far strongly indicate that their vaccine will be priced out of the reach of billions of people across the world in order to sustain the kind of excessive profit margins they are chasing.
This big pharma business model is damaging enough during ‘normal’ times - during a global pandemic it is unforgivable. This profit-driven agenda is undermining the UK and global response to COVID and jeopardising the chances of effectively bringing the crisis to an end, leading to unnecessary suffering and more deaths.
This week, revelations about Kate Bingham - the UK’s Vaccine Tsar - demonstrated just how entrenched corporate interests are in the UK’s COVID response. It’s been revealed that her firm has investments in big pharma companies working on COVID technologies - meaning she personally stands to gain from the government’s COVID response. Questions are now being asked as to whether she will gain personally from a £49m UK taxpayer investment into a medicine fund that is run by her private equity firm.
Kate Bingham’s clear conflict of interest makes her entirely unfit to be heading up the UK’s vaccine strategy. Why should any of us believe that she is acting in the best interests of patients, rather than lining her own pocket?
We need a UK COVID strategy that prioritises a fair and equitable global response to this pandemic - not one that is dictated by the interests of private corporations. Without a doubt, Kate Bingham must go, and the government must ensure that her replacement will put people at the forefront, not profit.