The vaccine shortage doesn't need to exist. Pfizer and Moderna could share their design with the dozens of other pharma companies who stand ready to produce their vaccines and end the pandemic.— James Hamblin (@jameshamblin) February 2, 2021
AstraZeneca got the help of The Serum Institute in India, for example, so it proves that they can cooperate. If they can do that, I don't see why open sourcing would be impossible. And they're manufacturing at cost, so lack of profit isn't the issue there. Also, Oxford were considering open sourcing before Bill Gates stepped in.
It just seems like Bill Gates and others were convinced that the poors couldn't do it, although India isn't the richest, and yet The Serum Institute is the biggest vaccine manufacturer in the world I think.
What happened to competition and consumers (governments in this case) being able to determine the best products?
One issue I can think of is regulation, if you have several versions of each vaccine that might have key differences and require separate studies.
AstraZeneca got the help of The Serum Institute in India, for example, so it proves that they can cooperate. If they can do that, I don't see why open sourcing would be impossible. And they're manufacturing at cost, so lack of profit isn't the issue there. Also, Oxford were considering open sourcing before Bill Gates stepped in.
It just seems like Bill Gates and others were convinced that the poors couldn't do it, although India isn't the richest, and yet The Serum Institute is the biggest vaccine manufacturer in the world I think.
What happened to competition and consumers (governments in this case) being able to determine the best products?
One issue I can think of is regulation, if you have several versions of each vaccine that might have key differences and require separate studies.
India's big problem producing drugs is predatory patent laws.