Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #PeoplesVaccine

Most recents (24)

Things to know before @SenSanders grills Moderna next week:

First, it's called the "NIH-Moderna" vaccine for a reason.

Moderna received more than $12 billion from taxpayers, including $2.1 billion for R&D & roughly $10bn in advance purchase commitments & purchases.

đŸ§” 1/
From 2020-2022, BARDA (at the Dept of Health & Human Services) provided Moderna with $1.7bn to support clinical trials.

@DeanBaker13 @davidalim @Alexruoff

đŸ§” 2/

investors.modernatx.com/financials/sec

.@NIH gave Moderna $400 million to support preclinical work & clinical trials, bringing the USG R&D contribution to $2.1 billion.

Including AMCs, which de-risked private investment, and procurement, Moderna has received >$12 bn from taxpayers.

đŸ§” 3/

npr.org/transcripts/89

Read 11 tweets
Ich twittere ja nicht mehr viel 🐘, aber wenn das @BSI_Bund bei Twitter anklopft, um vor einer zivilgesellschaftlichen Social Media-Kampagne gegen Patente auf #COVID19-Impfstoffe zu warnen, dann ist das ein Anlass. đŸ§”
Was ist passiert? 2020 formierte sich die zivilgesellschaftliche #PeoplesVaccine-Allianz. Ihr Ziel: ein weltweit verfĂŒgbarer #COVID19-Impfstoff. HĂ€tten wir auf sie gehört, wĂ€re die Pandemie heute vorbei. Leider warten viele im Globalen SĂŒden noch heute auf ihre erste mRNA-Dosis.
Jetzt veröffentlicht @theintercept interne Mails von Twitter & BioNTech (mit Twitters Erlaubnis), in denen es heißt, das Bundesamt fĂŒr Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik habe Twitter vor einer Social Media-Kampagne der #PeoplesVaccine-Allianz gewarnt. theintercept.com/2023/01/16/twi
 ImageImage
Read 8 tweets
We already know that the pharma companies pressured governments into supporting their profits-first approach to Covid vaccines, so it's really no surprise they tried to pressure Twitter, too.

Still, another layer of their scumbaggery is revealed here...
theintercept.com/2023/01/16/twi

"Twitter was seemingly asked to shield the powerful from criticism. That should worry all those who care about accountability."
peoplesvaccine.org/resources/medi

Two important caveats in the news story:

1) "It is not clear to what extent Twitter took any action on BioNTech’s request"

2) "Twitter did not provide unfettered access to company information"

In other words, perhaps there's more coming on top of what's been reported so far.
Read 5 tweets
(đŸ§”1/13) DAS IST ECHT ÜBEL: #TwitterFiles decken auf, dass Deutsche Regierung sowie BioNTech in Zensur und Meinungsmanipulation verwickelt sind? Wenn das stimmt...Alles Details hier:👇
(2/13) Erschreckendes wurde durch die #TwitterFiles aufgedeckt:
Die Pharmaindustrie hat Social Media dazu genutzt, den Inhalt rund um die Impfstoffpolitik zu beeinflussen.

Wusste die deutsche Regierung davon?👇
(3/13) #Pfizer und #BioNTech haben direkten Druck auf Social-Media-Plattformen ausgeĂŒbt, um Aktivisten zu unterdrĂŒcken, die nach gĂŒnstigen generischen Impfstoffen fĂŒr LĂ€nder mit niedrigem Einkommen verlangen.👇
Read 14 tweets
BioNTech and the German govt pressured Twitter to censor critics calling for global access to COVID-19 vaccines, @lhfang reveals.

At a time when online activism was the only form of protest available to many, they tried to silence legitimate criticism. 1/
theintercept.com/2023/01/16/twi

It is yet more evidence of the remarkable campaign against vaccine equity activists, after this seminal investigation from @ashleighfurlong and @SamuelHorti 2/
politico.eu/article/covid-

...and @TanRoet's astounding exposé of how BioNTech's lobbying shaped Germany's position on vaccine IP.

Well worth running through Google translate (if, like me, you don't speak German.) 3/
abgeordnetenwatch.de/recherchen/lob

Read 6 tweets
1. New piece from the TWITTER FILES.
How the pharmaceutical industry lobbied social media to shape content around vaccine policy.

The push included direct pressure from Pfizer partner BioNTech to censor activists demanding low-cost generic vaccines for low-income countries.
2. In 2020, it was clear that the pandemic would require rapid innovation. Early on, there was a push to make the solution equitable: an international partnership to share ideas, technology, new forms of medicine to rapidly solve this crisis. medicinespatentpool.org/news-publicati

3. But global drug giants saw the crisis as an opportunity for unprecedented profit. Behind closed doors, pharma launched a massive lobbying blitz to crush any effort to share patents/IP for new covid-related medicine, including therapeutics and vaccines.
Read 15 tweets
Important report by @oxfamcampaigns today ahead of 2nd anniversary of the pandemic:

- More people have died than we think
- Rich countries with older populations are NOT worst affected
- It's far from over

Understandably a bit buried by Ukraine so here's ađŸ§”

#PeoplesVaccine
The pandemic death toll is likely to be *much* higher than official figures show, as testing and reporting levels are unequal.

Based on excess deaths, an estimated *19.6 million* people around the world have died from Covid, 4 times as many in lower-income countries as rich ones
Globally, 3.2 million people have likely died of Covid in the three months since the #Omicron variant emerged.

If you live in Britain or any heavily boosted country – yes, you did read that right.

More contagious + low vaccine levels = deaths, even with a less deadly variant Image
Read 11 tweets
So to be clear what’s happened, Big Pharma employed a not-for-profit to undermine South Africa’s WHO-backed mRNA hub. In its place they propose a neo-colonial scheme to make vaccines offshore to bypass Africa’s governments. đŸ§” #PeoplesVaccine 1/ bmj.com/content/376/bm

Reminder, the hub is trying to produce an mRNA vaccine. Moderna & Pfizer refused to share their recipe. Maybe they believed the racist assumption that Africa couldn’t possibly produce mRNA? Seems they were wrong. 2/ aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/3/

So now, Big Pharma uses a not-for-profit to call for the hub to be “terminated immediately” @ellenthoen: “If you run a not-for-profit and you go around trying to stop people from developing lifesaving vaccines, then I don’t know what your agenda is but it smells really bad” 3/
Read 7 tweets
BREAKING: BIG PHARMA CAUGHT TRYING TO THWART @WHO & PAN-AFRICAN EFFORTS TO MAKE COVID-19 VACCINES

@BioNTech-hired consultancy kENUP called for termination of WHO-backed MRNA hub whilst promoting BioNTech’s ‘paternalistic and unworkable’ proposal.

This is #VaccineApartheid
Their claims forced African biotech companies to waste time defending their work:

“I don’t understand why kENUP... tries to undermine Afrigen’s work...It drains energy that I could have spent making a vaccine”
- Petro Terblanche, MD of Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines
Any remaining pharma apologists can be left in no doubt.

Their priorities are profits, profits, profits.

People's lives, global economies, the disruptions caused by the pandemic, simply do not measure up.

Read 8 tweets
The science says we should make as many vaccines as possible & get them to as many people as possible as quickly as possible.

But leaders in the EU & UK reject the science.

They have been blocking wider vaccine production globally from the beginning.

bbc.com/news/health-60

From the beginning, the EU & UK have been blocking & delaying wider vaccine production globally by obstructing the #TRIPSwaiver at the World Trade Organization, a proposal to temporarily waive some intellectual property (IP) rules on vaccines & other health products.
TRILLIONS in economic damage.

BILLIONS of people unable to get even one vaccine dose.

MILLIONS dead from Covid.

THOUSANDS of doctors & health experts demanding change.

ONE vile policy to block wider vaccine production during a global pandemic.

We need a #PeoplesVaccine.
Read 5 tweets
Just found out #Pfizer made $37bn on its vaccine last year. The most lucrative drug in history. Sales have doubled Pfizer’s revenue to $81 billion. If Pfizer were a country it would have the 66th largest GDP, ahead of Ethiopia & Luxembourg. #PeoplesVaccineđŸ§”1/ Image
Pfizer is expecting to bring in $54 billion in Covid-19 revenue next year from its vaccine and pill. The total amount they will make on their vaccine and treatment is truly mind-blowing. 2/ cnbc.com/2022/02/08/cov

Last week Covax, the body supposed to ensure fairer distribution of vaccines, said it was out of money and needed $5 billion to pay for syringes and other urgent supplies – that’s a mere 1/7 of Pfizer’s vaccine revenue last year. 3/ independent.co.uk/news/health/pf

Read 5 tweets
After all the UK government has done to back them, Big Pharma still isn’t happy. They say the UK should be put on a US trade sanctions ‘watch list’ because the #NHS has too much power to negotiate down medicine prices. #PeoplesVaccine đŸ§” 1/
Basically, ‘the NHS doesn’t pay Big Pharma enough.’ And worryingly, they think the UK government might agree with them – welcoming a NICE review, though still they think it should go further. This would represent a massive threat to the #NHS. 2/
They also think we should break from Europe’s new approach to medicine approval, because it weakens, ever so slightly, Big Pharma’s monopolies on drugs. 3/
Read 5 tweets
In blocking wider vaccine production globally, EU & UK take a neocolonialist approach to the pandemic, saying:

❗ we're in charge;

❗ we decide who lives & dies;

❗ we may give you some charity later if we feel generous & if you behave.

It’s arrogant & self-destructive.
From the beginning, the EU & UK have been blocking wider vaccine production globally by obstructing the #TRIPSwaiver, a proposal at the World Trade Organization to temporarily waive some intellectual property rules on vaccines & other health products.
EU & UK leaders have adopted this policy to boost pharma monopoly profits.

They know it will prolong the pandemic & lead to more deaths & suffering.

They know it gives more time for new variants to emerge.

But profits come first, so the policy is: enforce vaccine shortage.
Read 22 tweets
Some small, pro-death rallies took place in a few EU member states at the weekend: euobserver.com/tickers/154100

But the biggest support for the deadly virus continues to come from the EU's policy of blocking wider vaccine production globally: politico.eu/article/vaccin

Yes, the EU & its member states are supporting widespread vaccination at home but blocking it globally.

Billions of people around the world have not had even one shot yet, in large part because of the global vaccine shortage the EU enforces at the World Trade Organization.
For over 15 months, the EU has been blocking wider vaccine production globally by obstructing the #TRIPSwaiver, a proposal at the WTO to temporarily waive some intellectual property rules on vaccines & other health products.
Read 22 tweets
Dear Prime Minister Trudeau:

The last thing I feel like doing this evening is sitting in front of my computer, writing this email, but as much as I’d like to simply relax and enjoy my evening, I can’t.
I keep thinking about how many of our fellow Canadians are struggling—really struggling—right now, as a result of the ongoing stress and strain posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
And I keep thinking of all the people in low-income countries who are dying because they lack access to life-saving vaccines.
Read 10 tweets
We have all had to change our habits in the pandemic.

đŸ˜· We put on masks in enclosed spaces like shops and public transport to help avoid spreading the virus.

But one group of people has refused to change their habits

We have all had to change our habits in the pandemic.

đŸ§Ș We get tested before and after travel, when we have symptoms, and when we’re around people who have it.

But one group of people has refused to change their habits

We have all had to change our ways in the pandemic.

💉 We get vaccines and boosters to do our part in keeping ourselves, our families, our friends & others safe.

But one group of people has refused to change their ways

Read 18 tweets
This is a map.

It looks like a simple world map with some data points on it.

But it's really a map showing an escape route.

âžĄïž A way out of the pandemic...

hrw.org/news/2021/12/1

To understand how to use this escape route, you first have to understand the trap we're in.

The core of it is this: we've been facing a global pandemic, but some rich governments have been trying to treat it like a national or regional problem.
Or, worse, those rich governments have been treating the pandemic as an opportunity for a few companies in their countries to make big profits.

They've been protecting & defending those companies from the start, prioritising their demands over the needs of humanity as a whole.
Read 23 tweets
TRILLIONS in economic damage.

BILLIONS of people unable to get even one vaccine dose.

MILLIONS dead from Covid.

THOUSANDS of doctors & health experts demanding change.

ONE vile policy to block wider vaccine production during a global pandemic.

We need a #PeoplesVaccine.
For 15 months, the EU, UK & Switzerland have been blocking wider vaccine production globally by obstructing the #TRIPSwaiver, a proposal at the World Trade Organization to temporarily waive some intellectual property rules on vaccines & other health products.
They are LITERALLY preventing vaccine production during a pandemic.

I could give you 1000 blank pieces of paper and a full box of crayons, and you could not draw a dumber policy than that.

Dumb and deadly.

True madness.
Read 18 tweets
If we ever want a normal Christmas again, we need to vaccinate the world. We can only do that by overriding Big Pharma’s stranglehold on vaccine recipes. Today we reveal some startling new stats 1/ #PeoplesVaccine #TRIPSWaiver
The EU, UK & US have received more vaccine doses in the last 6 weeks than African countries have received all year. Just 8.6% of people in Africa have been fully vaccinated. This FT graph says it all in terms of just how unequal things are 2/
If we rolled out vaccines to everyone at the same rate the UK is giving boosters, we could vaccinate the world by February. Whereas, if things keep going as they are, everyone in Africa won’t have received their *first dose* until April 2023. 3/ independent.co.uk/world/uk-eu-us

Read 7 tweets
Breaking news: We have filed an SEC complaint against @moderna_tx for publishing misleading statements & failing to disclose to shareholders & the SEC that it has been part of a prolonged patent dispute w/scientists at the National Institutes of Health over the COVID-19 vaccine.
Despite receiving $2.5 billion in US taxpayer money & co-inventing the mRNA #vaccine with scientists from the NIH, Moderna has been an ongoing dispute with the US gov't over just who owns the intellectual property behind the vaccine.
By refusing to transfer mRNA technology to manufacturers in low-and middle-income countries, Moderna is prolonging the pandemic, ignoring the death & suffering of millions worldwide.

More on our #SEC complaint and the need for a #PeoplesVaccine: politicsofpoverty.oxfamamerica.org/oxfam-calls-on

Read 3 tweets
From the start, the EU has been BLOCKING wider vaccine production globally by obstructing the #TRIPSwaiver, a proposal to temporarily waive some intellectual property rules on vaccines & other health products. This:

⚕ goes against expert advice, and

☠ prolongs the pandemic
"Scientists know that this cycle will prolong the pandemic — but world leaders are still failing to choose the fastest path out."

We need the #TRIPSwaiver for a #PeoplesVaccine.

Editorial in the science journal @nature: nature.com/articles/d4158

Only 46% of the world is fully vaccinated.

In many countries, it's less than 10%.

BILLIONS of people have not even had one dose yet.

👉 The top reason is the vaccine shortage caused by the EU, UK & others blocking wider vaccine production globally.

nytimes.com/interactive/20

Read 11 tweets
From the start, the EU has been blocking wider vaccine production globally by obstructing the #TRIPSwaiver, a proposal to temporarily waive some intellectual property rules on vaccines & other health products.

The EU's policy goes against expert advice & prolongs the pandemic.
"Scientists know that this cycle will prolong the pandemic — but world leaders are still failing to choose the fastest path out."

We need the #TRIPSwaiver for a #PeoplesVaccine.

Editorial in the science journal @nature: nature.com/articles/d4158

Only 46% of the world is fully vaccinated.

In many countries, it's less than 10%.

BILLIONS of people have not even had one dose yet.

🔑 The key reason is the vaccine shortage caused by the EU, UK & others blocking wider vaccine production globally.

nytimes.com/interactive/20

Read 9 tweets
A longer pandemic only benefits:

💰 The pharma monopolies.

🩠 The virus.

The EU & UK are the top allies of both.

Their policy of blocking wider vaccine production, by opposing the #TRIPSwaiver at the WTO, results in the global vaccine shortage that prolongs the pandemic.
"Scientists know that this cycle will prolong the pandemic — but world leaders are still failing to choose the fastest path out."

#TRIPSwaiver
#PeoplesVaccine

Editorial in the science journal @nature: nature.com/articles/d4158

"It’s an inescapable reality and an almost iron-clad law: the pandemic will not end while vaccine equity is pushed to the margins." - @nature
Read 5 tweets
Only 46% of the world is fully vaccinated.

In many countries, it's less than 10%.

BILLIONS of people have not even had one dose yet.

🔑 The key reason is the vaccine shortage caused by the EU, UK & others blocking wider vaccine production globally.

nytimes.com/interactive/20
 Image
As the @nytimes says: "Vaccine doses remain relatively scarce globally, with demand still forecast to outstrip supply through the end of 2021. But concerns around waning immunity have prompted many countries
 to start administering additional doses
"
So, we already have a global vaccine shortage caused by insufficient production levels, and demand is only going up.

Leaving pharma monopolies to set those production levels has clearly NOT been working. It's failed to meet current need, and it obviously won't meet future need.
Read 10 tweets

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