With thousands and thousands of lives at stake amid a fast unfold of Covid-19, Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna mentioned he hoped President Joe Biden would name the Pfizer CEO to let India produce its vaccine at the very least for six months or a 12 months. Khanna, who represents Silicon Valley within the US House of Representatives, has been an ardent supporter of the transfer by India and South Africa on the World Trade Organization (WTO) for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waiver of Covid-19 vaccines.
“Allow India to develop that vaccine, and that is good in your individual long-term pursuits. It’s good for the United States and our pursuits with the function with India and the remainder of the world,” Khanna told the media. Major pharma companies like Pfizer and Moderna and organisations like the US Chambers of Commerce are opposing such a move.
A day earlier, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai spoke with the CEOs of Pfizer and AstraZeneca regarding the TRIPS waiver, which is slated to come up before the WTO on May 5. “I do know there are very senior people in the administration who are supportive of it. We are making the case to the White House. And my hope is that the President would at least call the Pfizer CEO and say, look, your long-term strategy in India, a huge market, just in your economic interest, at least waive it for six months or a year,” Khanna mentioned.
Microsoft founder and eminent philanthropist Bill Gates in a media interview on Monday opposed the transfer. Asked about it, Khanna mentioned, “I hardly ever assume Bill Gates is mistaken, however it is a case I hope he’ll interact. The level that Bill Gates made about manufacturing capability being restricted is totally appropriate. But what I mentioned is why not have a worldwide fund, USD25 billion, to assist with manufacturing capability after which enable the vaccine recipes to be shared.” “You’re not going to have a lack of quality control. I think it is patronising to say that 100 other nations can’t have a regulatory process to make sure that manufacturing is safe. They can and the World Health Organization can,” he added.
“No one is asking Pfizer to manufacture these vaccines, nobody is saying they want to do it totally free. It’s essential to perceive, they’ll receives a commission. They can be in a position to promote it. The cause they’re not doing it will be pure greed,” Khanna said. The United States government gave a USD2 billion guarantee to Pfizer to purchase vaccines.
“If it weren’t for that, Pfizer would have never been able to do what they did. Our NIH gave the IP that allowed Moderna to develop the vaccine,” he argued. “What we’re now saying is that they need to share the vaccine recipe with over 100 nations who need to do the manufacturing. They’re keen to do the manufacturing themselves, they want to have contract manufacturing. Pfizer would nonetheless receives a commission. Moderna would nonetheless receives a commission. But it’s simply mistaken, morally mistaken, strategically mistaken for them not to share the vaccine recipe, which was developed with US taxpayer help,” Khanna further said.
He applauded Biden for committing to help India in its fight against the virus. “But we also ultimately need to get vaccines to India. The president has said that he will release the AstraZeneca vaccine, which Americans are not going to use after it’s deemed safe. But more important is Pfizer and Moderna need to license the vaccine recipe to allow India and other countries to manufacture it,” he added.
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