costs are borned by many public institutions like CCMB , ICMR , NIV etc for the private manufactures like SII and Bharat Biotech while profits are appropriated by them . Even the 3 rd and 4 th phase trials which could have costed billions for the manufacturers were done directly on the public in the name of emergency . When once a vaccine is developed with the collective public resources all the rights are appropriated by the developer .
In the current highest bidder system , it could be years before those in low-income countries receive doses , because wealthy countries have monopolised the available supply . Contradiction between the Capitalists :
USA initially declared that it will buy all vaccines from any company in any country that brings the vaccine , that is the vaccine company has to give priority to USA at the cost of its own country people . Of course , this did not materialise .
EU has ordered 300 million doses in November . However , when serious delays in the vaccination program became evident , the crevices in the EU became apparent . Its regional solidarity plan came to an end . Despite being the country where the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was developed , Germany and countries such as France , Denmark , and Hungary , which faced challenges in getting sufficient jabs , started initiatives to purchase vaccines by deactivating the EU . The process , which continued with the escalation of tensions among EU partners and the use of harsh political rhetoric such as “ transition from vaccine diplomacy to vaccine thuggery ,” was triggered after delivery cutbacks by Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca in following supply issues at their Belgian facilities .
Although AstraZeneca , the UK ’ s biggest vaccine supplier , 10 stated that the British government , which made the purchase agreement three months earlier , is a delivery priority , EU leaders wanted the company to eliminate the interruptions by directing the production at its facilities in the UK to Europe . The British government , acting with the self-confidence of the post-Brexit era , did not allow such a change , stating that its citizens have priority in access to vaccines . The European Commission , which finally put a threat of export restrictions on the table for all vaccines produced in Europe , tried to persuade the British government to give up on parts of the AstraZeneca quota in exchange for receiving Pfizer- BioNTech vaccines produced in Belgium .
Imperialism ’ s Vaccine Hegemony :
American and European pharmaceutical companies require strict nondisclosure agreements for all vaccine purchases . Low-income countries are thus forced to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies that in turn demand confidentiality regarding contract details . Little specific or reliable information is available about what some countries are paying , forcing others to negotiate in the dark . This is extortion .
The US-based company Pfizer is holding governments to ransom , interfering with their legislation , and even demanding sovereign assets , such as federal bank reserves , embassy buildings and military bases , as a guarantee against the cost of any future legal cases .
Talks between Argentina and Pfizer began in June 2020 . Then , Pfizer asked to be compensated for the cost of any future civil lawsuits . If someone files a civil lawsuit against Pfizer in Argentina and wins that case , the government of Argentina and not Pfizer would pay the compensation . So , Argentina ’ s parliament passed a new law in
October 2020 , but Pfizer was unhappy with its phrasing . The law said Pfizer needs to at least pay for negligence , for its own mistakes .
Pfizer rejected this , after which Argentina offered to amend the law to define negligence more clearly - to include only vaccine distribution and delivery under negligence .
Pfizer was still not happy and demanded the law be amended through a new decree , which Argentina refused . Pfizer then asked Argentina to buy an international insurance to pay for potential future cases against Pfizer , to which the country agreed .
In December 2020 , Pfizer came back with more demands , and demanded sovereign assets as collateral . Pfizer wanted Argentina to put its bank reserves , military bases and embassy buildings at stake .
Pfizer ’ s put the following demandson Brazil-
Brazil waives the sovereignty of its assets abroad in favour of Pfizer , that the rules of the land - be not applied on Pfizer , that Brazil take into consideration a delay in delivery , that Pfizer is not penalised for a delayed delivery , and that in case of any side effects , Pfizer be exempted from all civil liability .
The Pfizer ’ s deals with both Argentina and Brazil failed .
Another unnamed country , unnamed due to its non-disclosure agreements , succumbed to Pfizer ’ s pressure and agreed to its exploitative deal . This caused a three-month delay -potentially equating to thousands of additional deaths .
Governments compensating for lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies is normal . In the United States for example , the PREP Act ( Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness act ) gives total immunity to companies like Pfizer and Moderna . But only if something goes wrong unintentionally , and this does not apply to negligence .
Class Struggle