Sanofi under fire over priority US access to COVID-19 vaccine
Sanofi is facing criticism after CEO Paul Hudson said the US was likely to have priority access on any COVID-19 vaccine produced by the French pharmaceutical company.
That’s because the US committed before anyone else to financially supporting the development of the vaccine, which has not yet been proven to work, Hudson said.
The comments angered health campaigners and international governments alike. French president Emmanuel Macron, whose office said he was “upset” by Hudson’s remarks, has demanded a meeting with company representatives.
Sanofi chairman Serge Weinberg has since been forced to step back from Hudson’s comments, and said there would be “no particular advance given to any country,” France 24 reported.
Oxfam, meanwhile, has said that any vaccine must be made freely available worldwide in order to ensure equitable access.
“In lieu of global cooperation and solidarity, pharmaceutical companies are being empowered to act as kingmakers―deciding who lives and who dies―and using this new-found power to extract subsidies and potentially high prices for new COVID-19 vaccines,” said Sandra L’hote-Fernandes, the charity’s health and gender equality advisor.
An open letter published this week, signed by 140 current and former world leaders, economists and health experts, also called for a “people’s vaccine” available to all.
Sanofi received funding from the US early on in its efforts to develop a vaccine, with a deal being announced as far back as February.
The support has come via the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a federal agency which Sanofi said doesn’t have an equivalent in the EU.
Hudson said he had tried to leverage BARDA’s financial support to secure funding from European governments for the vaccine programme.
“I’ve been campaigning in Europe to say the US will get vaccines first,” Hudson told Bloomberg, adding: “That’s how it will be because they’ve invested to try and protect their population, to restart their economy.”
L’hote-Fernandes said international governments should unite at next week’s United Nations World Health Assembly meeting to block corporations from “profiteering”.
“Governments must work together to stop corporations profiteering from the pandemic and save the lives of people across the globe,” she said.
“When they meet at the World Health Assembly next week, they must demand that vaccines, tests, and treatments will be patent-free, equitably distributed to all nations and people, and free at the point of delivery,” the Oxfam official added.
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