No people's vaccine

As rich nations corner more than half the doses, they must realise that vaccinated pockets don’t lead to stable economies

Vaccine nationalism is rearing its ugly head again even as the Coronavirus pandemic rages on. The implications of manipulating access to essential drugs, particularly HIV-AIDS ones in developing countries, due to bulk purchasing power of richer nations and honouring of pharmaceutical patents, are already known. That crisis worsened. Sadly, the trend continues as the race to develop a vaccine for COVID-19 intensifies with five leading candidates currently in phase three clinical trials. Who gets hold of the vaccine and when determines which country stops the caseload from going up exponentially, saves lives, escapes the second and third wave predicted by experts and gets on the path of economic recovery faster. However, with the pharmaceutical industry being largely cartelised, it won’t come as a surprise if developing countries are at the far end of the line. Remember the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic? Australia, which was the first country to come up with a vaccine at that time, blocked exports while some of the wealthiest countries entered into pre-purchase agreements with several pharmaceutical companies. The US alone obtained the right to buy 6,00,000 doses. It was only when the H1N1 pandemic began to recede that developed countries offered to donate vaccine doses to poorer economies. However, the damage at that time was not as severe as it will be this time round because the Coronavirus is far more infectious and deadlier than the H1N1 and has almost strangled the have-not nations. If a recent report released by Oxfam is to be believed, wealthy nations, accounting for just 13 per cent of the global population, have cornered a whopping 51 per cent of the promised vaccine doses. It is just what poorer nations and the World Health Organisation (WHO) had feared, that while they would be prime picks for vaccine trials, they would get to use doses the last. The inevitable result would be a deepening of the pandemic. Right now, many world leaders, like US President Donald Trump, who is facing a re-election in November, will not listen to the feeble voice of the poor or the WHO. A vaccine is his ticket to the White House, he needs it for his voters. This “vaccine nationalism” has also emerged at a time when global majors are trying to establish their political prowess while using their scientific superiority to validate the claim. Thus, whoever has the first access to the vaccine will end up on the top of the global pyramid of power, apart from reaping the enormous monetary benefits that come out of it.

One of the developers of the COVID vaccine is Moderna, which has received $2.48 billion in committed taxpayers’ money. It intends to profit from its vaccine and has sold supplies to rich nations at prices that range from $12-16 per dose in the US to around $35 per dose for other countries, leaving poorer nations out of the procurement loop entirely. However, according to reports, the company’s production capacity is barely enough for 475 million people or six per cent of the world’s population. Even if all five vaccine candidates succeed, which is rather unlikely, it is only by 2022 that two-thirds of the world’s population will have access to them. Also, even if one country does get vaccinated, how will its policy on travelling restrictions change? Will the restriction be limited to those who are yet to get access to the vaccine or will they have vaccines for those entering their land? Remember it’s a global pandemic and just like the WHO warned, creating vaccinated pockets will not be beneficial for long if one is aiming for a stable economy. This is why various organisations are calling for a “people’s vaccine”, free of the monopolistic control of the pharmaceutical companies over its sale and urging nations to share the needed information with others so that it is available to every single human being at affordable rates and can be distributed on a need-based rather than a paid-for basis.

If all the five vaccines work, Oxfam says that would amount to a combined production capacity at 5.94 billion doses, enough for 2.97 billion people, keeping in mind that the vaccines will most likely require two doses. The supply deals already agreed upon are for 5.303 billion doses, out of which 2.728 billion (51 per cent) have already been procured by developed countries including the UK, US, Australia, Hong Kong and Macau, Japan, Switzerland and Israel, as well as the European Union. The remaining 2.575 billion doses have either been bought by or promised to emerging countries, including India, Bangladesh, China, Brazil, Indonesia and Mexico among others. This also includes the 300 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine pledged to the Covax Advanced Market Commitment (AMC), the vaccine pooling mechanism, promised to developing countries. It is essential for global powers to understand the gravity of the situation and on ethical grounds work in favour of public health and the global economy.

I for one would not rush out to get the vaccine!

Why Are Moderna Executives Dumping Their Stock?
STORY AT-A-GLANCE -VACCINE FAILURE

• Results from Moderna’s Phase 1 human trial revealed the 100-mcg dose vaccine — which had a 100% side effect ratio after the second dose — is proceeding to Phase 3 trial assessment

• Moderna has no legal rights to a key patent for its vaccine delivery system. Moderna sought to invalidate the patent for lipid nanotechnology owned by Arbutus Biopharma but lost the challenge at the end of July 2020
• Executives at Moderna have cashed in stock options, raking in about $90 million in personal profits since January. Two Moderna executives have now sold off all of their stock holdings in the company, and its general counsel has sold nearly all of hers

• AstraZeneca has temporarily halted its Phase 3 vaccine trials due to “a suspected serious and unexpected adverse reaction” in a British participant

• AstraZeneca did not divulge the nature of the adverse reaction, but an anonymous source claims the trial participant was found to have transverse myelitis, an inflammatory condition that affects the spinal cord and is frequently triggered by viral infections

The U.S. Health and Human Services’ Operation Warp Speed has pledged to deliver 300 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine by 2021,1 if not sooner.2 However, developing a safe and effective vaccine normally takes years and begins with animal studies. The COVID-19 vaccines are all being rushed straight into human clinical tests, forgoing lengthy animal trials altogether.
Such fast-tracked vaccines pose unknown risks, which are further magnified since governments are granting COVID-19 vaccine makers immunity from liability for all vaccine injuries and deaths that occur after the vaccines are recommended (or mandated) by public health officials.3
At the end of July 2020, AstraZeneca announced4 most countries it expects to supply with COVID-19 vaccine will grant the pharmaceutical company complete liability protection if people are harmed.

In the U.S., vaccine makers already have something of a “free pass” when it comes to vaccine injury liability and lawsuits through the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 19865 and the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act, passed in 2005.6

The main concern is that the combination of COVID-19 vaccines being fast-tracked to market at “warp speed” with minimal testing, together with blanket liability protection against vaccine injuries could be a public health nightmare in the making.
Problems With Moderna’s Vaccine Are Becoming Apparent
Early warning signs that something might be amiss have already started emerging. As detailed in “Gates Tries to Justify Side Effects of Fast-Tracked Vaccine,” results7 from Moderna’s Phase 1 human trial revealed 100% of volunteers in the high-dose group suffered systemic side effects. Side effects included fatigue, chills, headache and myalgia (muscle pain); 21% suffered “one or more severe events.”
According to Bill Gates, those side effects are largely due to the high dosages Moderna had to use in order to achieve desired antibody levels. But, if high dosages are required to create a robust-enough immune response, and higher dosages also cause systemic side effects in nearly all people, just how safe will this vaccination campaign be?
In the 20 years that vaccine makers have tried to develop a coronavirus vaccine, efforts have failed due to dangerous, many times lethal, side effects.

In July, it was reported8 that the 100-mcg dose vaccine — despite its 100% side effect ratio after the second dose — would proceed to Phase 3 trial assessment. In a May 26, 2020, article9 in STAT news, Ian Haydon, one of the Phase 1 study participants who suffered severe side effects requiring hospitalization, stated that while he recovered, the inoculation left him feeling “as sick as he’d ever felt.” As noted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.:10
“Three of the 15 human guinea pigs in the high dose cohort (250 mcg) suffered a ‘serious adverse event’ within 43 days of receiving Moderna’s jab. Moderna … acknowledged that three volunteers developed Grade 3 systemic events defined by the FDA as ‘Preventing daily activity and requiring medical intervention.’
Moderna allowed only exceptionally healthy volunteers to participate in the study. A vaccine with those reaction rates could cause grave injuries in 1.5 billion humans if administered to ‘every person on earth.’ That is the threshold that Gates has established for ending the global lockdown.

Moderna did not explain why it reported positive antibody tests for only eight participants. These outcomes are particularly disappointing because the most hazardous hurdle for the inoculation is still ahead; challenging participants with wild COVID infection.
Past attempts at developing COVID vaccines have always faltered at this stage as both humans and animals achieved robust antibody response then sickened and died when exposed to the wild or mutated virus.”

As an afterthought, keep in mind that there is always BHT which has been around for better than thirty years, was patented (US4350707) because it kills lipid covered viruses and corona viruses fall in this category and has little to no known side effects.

Absolutely America first! President Trump has made certain of that.

And for anyone trying to spread FEAR about these vaccines, know two things:

1) Each is going through all the normal phase 1, phase 2, and phase 3 clinical trials. Tens of thousands of closely monitored volunteers are taking them for months. Nothing is being rushed. Approvals will only come when a candidate has proven it is safe and effective.

2) THIS IS A CENTRAL PART OF PRESIDENT TRUMP’S REELECTION CAMPAIGN.

The vaccines are how President Trump flips the script on the Democrats’ months of fearmongering and overhyping COVID-19. That’s why the Democrats are now claiming the vaccines are “rushed” and “dangerous” and “politicized”.

So all of you spreading FEAR, UNCERTAINTY, and DOUBT about the vaccines, understand you are spouting DEMOCRAT TALKING POINTS and UNDERMINING PRESIDENT TRUMP.

Who’s side are you on exactly? Make your own choice about your own health. If you don’t want a vaccine, DON’T GET ONE. Nobody cares. But don’t go spearing a bunch of crap to scare people. The last thing President Trump needs is you people spreading lies about the vaccines he’s working to bring to market in the US.

We have vaccines for H1N1 and Ebola.

Coronavirus is a family of viruses. 7 of them are known to infect humans. SARS-CoV-1 (SARS 2003) had viable vaccine candidates produced that made it through phase 1 and phase 2 human trials. The disease burned out before the (very expensive) phase 3 trials began, so those never got funded. MERS-CoV (MERS 2012) was the same story as SARS 2003. Vaccine candidates developed, made it through phase 1 and 2, no funding for phase 3. SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) is another coronavirus. Multiple vaccine candidates nearing the end of phase 3 trials right now. Probably have 2-5 approved before the end of the year.

The other 4 coronaviruses known to infect humans are among the over 200 viruses from multiple viral families which cause the “common cold”. There’s no vaccine coming because it would cost a fortune to develop and test a vaccine for over 200 different viruses. Nobody’s going to pay $20,000 a year for a vaccine that just prevents getting a cold. People would rather just get a cold.

HIV is a difficult case mainly because the immune system largely ignores it and HIV is extremely adept at hiding from the immune system when a reaction does take place. All a vaccine does is show the immune system what a pathogen looks like so the immune system can trigger the process for building lasting immunity. If the immune system doesn’t react to the pathogen in the first place, and if the immune system can’t find and kill the pathogen because of how it hides, then a vaccine is pretty difficult to manage. Add to that HIV’s incredibly unstable genome, and you start to see why we’ve gone this long without a working vaccine.

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