[ad_1]
A few weeks later Great pressure from the Biden administration Come out to support Give up the intellectual property rights of the coronavirus vaccine.Soon after Biden’s announcement earlier this month, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation also Reversal process And approved a patent exemption.But Bill Gates himself was re-examined by the surroundings Sexual misconduct Perhaps the most influential people in the global health field have not made concessions.
Although U.S. residents are getting vaccinated quickly and may end the epidemic, most countries in the world may have to Wait a few years Many of their vaccine doses, in one case were described as “Vaccine apartheid. “Almost Half of all vaccinations Only managed in 16 rich countries, and India is experiencing The terrible coronavirus crisis.
This situation can be avoided. At the beginning of last year, the countries of the global South forced the World Health Organization to launch a technology sharing library. TAP technology, Which will remove the intellectual property barriers to obtaining Covid-19 treatment and vaccines.
Bill Gates, the global health czar, has other ideas. Uphold his firm commitment to intellectual property rights, Gates push plan This will give companies exclusive rights to life-saving drugs, no matter how much they receive from public funds.Given Gates’ tremendous influence in the global public health arena, his foresight ultimately lies in Kovacs Plan-Contains monopoly of patent rights and relies on the philanthropic whim of rich countries and pharmaceutical giants to provide vaccines to most parts of the world.A kind Support chorus The actions of the pharmaceutical companies and the Trump administration were not harmed.
Should we be surprised that a monopolist has turned into a philanthropist and still maintains its commitment to monopoly patent rights as a philanthropist?
In 2001, Gates emerged from the antitrust legend Decide Maintain his reputation. The federal government’s lawsuit against Microsoft is very new, and it targeted a new type of monopoly at the time:Intellectual Property Antitrust. “In the case of Microsoft, this looks like manipulating its software in an anti-competitive manner and portraying Gates as a cruel monopolist. (Microsoft eventually reached a settlement with the government.)
Gates chose to baptize through proven and true charitable donations.However, as he commits to global health, his belief in proprietary intellectual property rights remains Changeless.If they helped him build a global software empire, then obviously, they should also help him save lives in the South, even though there is evidence that AIDS with polio Epidemics are just the opposite.
Gates’ first attempt was unexpectedly started in 1999. Prior to this, the Western suppression of South Africa’s AIDS drug patents in South Africa was invalid. This suppression failed. Heinous drug prices And the frustrating HIV outbreak.In the end, a global radical movement succeeded in forcing the U.S. government and large pharmaceutical companies to back down-although the Gates Foundation also distributed a pamphlet to the WHO, calling it a monopoly and patent rights. investment The way to deal with the AIDS crisis, which will protect the company’s property rights in the future.
In the past two decades, Gates has been Repeatedly advocated Applies to public health policies to enhance the company’s ability to exclude others from the production of life-saving drugs, including allowing the Gates Foundation itself obtain Substantial intellectual property rights. This situation continued until the Covid-19 pandemic.Last year, Gates guided the global health community to turn to Covax instead of sharing patent-free technologies. boast Convincing Oxford University Is not Publicly license its vaccine. Gates used his $750 million donation to the university for vaccine research, even though the vaccine was developed in a publicly funded laboratory. In the end, Oxford sold the production rights to AstraZeneca, but it did not guarantee low prices and extraordinary profit opportunities.
[ad_2]
Source link
