Calls made for equitable access in coronavirus vaccine rush

Vaccine developers are under pressure to sell their research, raising fears the world’s poor could be denied access. (Image by Belova59 from Pixabay)

By Aisling Irwin

Governments are pouring massive resources into coronavirus vaccine and treatment development, and pressure is mounting to make sure results will reach the most vulnerable in the global South.

Academics, lawyers, non-profits and the leaders of some biotech firms have written to the World Health Organization (WHO) arguing that “the broadest sharing of technology could save the most lives”. Last week Costa Rica’s President Carlos Alvarado Quesada urged the WHO to set up a “pool” of patents and data.

Fears were heightened after the United States’ President Donald Trump apparently tried to buy the rights to intellectual property arising from a coronavirus vaccine project at a German company, whose work is partially funded by public, private and philanthropic money channelled through CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.