Trillions of Dollars at Stake in the Race for Covid-19 Vaccine

Richard Mellor

Afscme Local 444, retired

I posted a commentary on Facts For Working People Blog earlier this week (7-22-20) about the potential profits the big pharmaceutical companies are looking at when a vaccine for Covid-19 is finally developed. Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Gilead, Novavax, Moderna and other corporations and other corporations working in partnership with them, are expected to make billions according to industry analysts.

 

With numerous companies in the game, the competition for markets will no doubt be fierce. But there another high-pressure front on the horizon. The US government has agreed to pay Pfizer and its partner BioNTech $2 billion to “secure” 100 million doses of the vaccine they are experimenting on at the moment. According to the media, the government will give the vaccines to the US population free of charge if is proved to work and is safe and has options for 500 million more doses. Whether that will include undocumented immigrants remains to be seen, depends on what mood Trump is in possibly.

 

As I pointed out previously, the CEO of Pfizer, Albert Bourla, is keeping his fingers crossed as Pfizer shares rose 5.1% on the news and Boiurla, who earned  $17.9 million in 2019 of which $3.6 million was part of his “annual incentive awards”, could be looking at a bigger incentive payout in 2010. Pandemics can be good things for some.

 

The US has also been guaranteed 300 million doses from AstraZeneca in a $1.2 billion deal and a $1.6 billion deal with Novarax will help fund that company’s clinical studies and the manufacturing of vaccines. “The world is going to need lots of vaccines.”  Pfizer’s Chief Business Officers tells the Wall Street Journal.

 

Corporate heads and the drug industry investor are hoping that when the clinical trials are over and if their vaccines are “safe”, the US Food and Drug Administration, which has the “authority to quickly authorize drugs and vaccines on an emergency basis”, will give them the green light.

 

Talk about pressure. If we consider the nature of the Trump administration, it is inconceivable that folks at the FDA won’t be pressured to “just do it” as the Nike slogan goes. There is billions of dollars at stake here; not simply through drug sales but the US and world economy overall. Getting a vaccine on the market will get profit making in to high gear again and open up the economy; were talking trillions of dollars at stake.  Most importantly, as far as Trump is concerned, any good news in this regard before November is gold.

 

Some readers may recall that prior to the market induced disaster we know as BP’s deep water drilling catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico that killed 11 workers, government regulators handed over the writing of rules for this process to the energy companies. At the time we quoted the NY Times that said the Interior Dept investigation revealed that: “Federal regulators responsible for oversight of drilling in the Gulf of Mexico allowed industry officials several years ago to fill in their own inspection reports in pencil — and then turned them over to the regulators, who traced over them in pen before submitting the reports to the agency, according to an inspector general’s report to be released this week. The report said that investigators "could not discern if any fraudulent alterations were present on these forms." Inspector General’s Inquiry Faults Regulators, NY Times 5/24/2010

 

The 11 workers that died due to the rapacious thirst for profits, never mind the environmental damage that the BP spill caused, was not an accident. Those workers were victims of free market policies. To my knowledge no individual or government official has been charged with murder, or has served prison time.

 

We know what US government agencies allow when it comes to the right of capital to poison society in the name of profits. Food production is an industrial venture, anyone that has taken the time to investigate it is horrified by how our food is produced especially when it comes to animals and how workers are treated. Animals are pumped full of hormones and anti-biotics all intended to shorten the time it takes to get the commodity on to the market and sold, workers have claimed that the pace on the line is so rushed, injuries are commonplace and sometimes animals are still alive when skinned.

 

The rate of return of the invested capital is the primary motive and competition between producers intensifies the process, workers, animals, the land and the consumer are all harmed by this set up.

 

The turnover for working in the Trump Administration is high. One word and you’re out. One disagreement and your gone. Trump is not alone. He has drawn to him the most degenerate bunch of sycophants possible; being a groveling toady is a pre-requisite for employment in Trump Inc.

 

What FDA employee would dare hold up the authorization of a Covid-19 vaccine for just a few minor flaws.

 

I am not an anti-vaxxer or whatever that movement is called. That doesn't mean I trust global mega corporations to play the role they do in public health. The production of society's crucial needs like food and healthcare to name a few, should not be a profit making venture. These industries should be publicly owned and managed. What FDA employee in normal times, would dare hold up the authorization of a Covid-19 vaccine for just a few minor flaws. Trump and his gang in the drivers seat, its practically certain they won't.