Secret deals around Coronavirus Vaccine

Press Release

Commenting on AstraZeneca having announced they are to benefit from a further $750m as an "Advanced Market Commitment" for the supply of a coronavirus vaccine candidate announced as part of a deal to provide access in low and middle income countries, Diarmaid McDonald, Lead Organiser of patient campaign group, Just Treatment responded:

"It is important that efforts are being made to ensure supply of effective vaccines across the developing world. But the lack of transparency on this arrangement is extremely problematic. The extra $750m AstraZeneca have secured from this deal is on top of more than $1bn funnelled to them by the US government and tens of millions of pounds from the UK...all for a vaccine produced with public funds at a UK university.

"AstraZeneca have been given control of a potentially world changing vaccine and huge sums of money with almost no accountability or transparency of the terms. We need the details of these deals to be made completely public so patients can be assured we're granting this company a monopoly that will limit access and allow them to profit at the NHS' expense for years to come."

ENDS

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