"Asking @BillGates to fix inequality is like asking an arsonist to hose down your house after he just set it on fire. Philanthropists might have the deep pockets to fund the fire engine and water hose, but the money is coming from making our houses unlivable in the first place."
This from an essay by Linsey McGoey

nyti.ms/3wBGj5r
when the foundation pours nonrepayable, tax-privileged grants on the world’s wealthiest pharmaceutical companies, or when it defends a global patent system that makes lifesaving medicines needlessly expensive in both poor and rich nations, the buck doesn’t just stop with Bill...
"In April last year, the University of Oxford was reportedly considering offering a Covid vaccine developed by its scientists on a nonexclusive basis, which would have made it possible for manufacturers across the world to produce it more cheaply and widely."
"But then, as reported in Kaiser Health News, “Oxford — urged on by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation — reversed course. It signed an exclusive vaccine deal with AstraZeneca that gave the pharmaceutical giant sole rights and no guarantee of low prices.”
"Recently, Melinda told The Times that vaccine makers like Pfizer and AstraZeneca “should make a small profit, because we want them to stay in business.”
"Define small. AstraZeneca paid nothing toward Oxford’s basic research on the vaccine, yet the company now has exclusive distribution rights, standing to make billions from the deal brokered by the Gates Foundation"
"That’s the insistence that companies need to “charge astronomical prices to pay for research and development,” as @RepKatiePorter put it recently, even though “the amount they spend on manipulating the market to enrich shareholders completely eclipses what’s spent on R&D.”

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More from @MishiChoudhary

26 May
Just as the govt completed the Content Monitoring System, thus gaining access in real-time to the phone calls and SMS messages of the entire Indian population, the implementation of open-source e2e encryption by #Whatsapp restored strong secrecy to the general citizenry's reach.
In the new rules lies concealed a chilling policy declaration: strong privacy is to be put beyond the reach of the common people, all of whose communications are to be seen by the governments of the future, all the time
For the rich and the few only, the technological possibilities of secure communication will be reserved. The rich can have an invitation-only privacy-respecting application without thinking about these burdensome rules.
Read 21 tweets
26 May
Why are engineers and technologists running vaccination in #india @drharshvardhan @PMOIndia ? The #cowin portal leads to exclusion of those who don't have smart phones, aren't tech savvy, are women, have data packs. Don't you see ground realities before coming out with policies?
Also please refer us to the official document which is not an FAQ that mandates #cowin for vaccination
Until recently #cowin was only available in English. India isn't Bangalore.
Read 6 tweets

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