Dems pressure Biden to share Moderna vaccine tech
A group of 12 Democratic Party members, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, have co-signed a letter calling for the Biden administration to share Moderna’s vaccine technology.
The lawmaker’s claim that a contract Moderna signed with the US may give it the authority to share “all key information needed to produce the vaccine”.
They also say that Moderna’s refusal to share the technology will delay the vaccination of millions in low and middle-income countries as facilities will be “forced” to spend time replicating existing mRNA technology.
“Despite receiving huge sums of public funding from American taxpayers, Moderna has refused calls to share its technology, including from the US government,” the letter said.
Moderna’s deal
The letter cites a contract Moderna entered into with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) in April 2020 which may give the federal government the authority to access and share the ingredient list and manufacturing instructions for their COVID vaccine.
The contract gives BARDA “unlimited rights to data funded under this contract” pursuant to a Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) clause which defines “data” as “recorded information, regardless of form or the media on which it may be recorded”.
This wording is broad enough to include “all key information needed to produce the vaccine”, the letter claims.
The letter concludes asking the government to publicly clarify what information is covered by the BARDA contract provisions, answer whether it is in discussion with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) mRNA hub project, and clarify any other efforts the administration has made to provide Moderna vaccines to low and middle-income countries.
Biden’s commitments
While the lawmakers praised President Biden’s efforts—including a recent commitment to donate 500 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine to low and middle-income countries—they remain concerned about disparities in vaccine supply.
“It is imperative for the administration to take bold steps to dramatically expand global vaccine access and manufacturing capabilities as quickly as possible,” said the group.
They also called upon the government to pressure remaining WTO member countries to reach an agreement on the South Africa COVID-19 waiver proposal.
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