Ensuring fair access to covid-19 vaccines and treatments

Scary shit going on, politically, folks!  


Here's a quote from the petition to sign, which is at the end of this post.

"We call on you to urgently launch a global alliance to fight the coronavirus: Commit that any vaccine and treatment will be accessible to all, make healthcare a human right for everyone, adopt social distancing measures to slow the virus down, support families financially to get through the crisis, and create a truly green recovery plan. This is a global virus and we need a coordinated, global response, that protects humanity everywhere."

 

Here's A New York Times piece

Here's A piece from The Guardian

And here's the Petition stop this stuff from happening.  sign here

Be careful not to let the mass media scare you into anything.  Most of what comes out of the publications you mentioned is pure fear-mongering designed to divide the people as much as possible.  

The signing of this petition is more of a proactive measure, to pressure politicals to act altruisticly and holistically for the good of all, rather than hoarding the vaccine and thus denying the possible containment and elimination of this virus.  This is a non-partisan situation, but is based on the very real premise that someone can and might try to buy vaccine research or the vaccine itself and thus make it available only to some people/countries, or make it unaffordable for many.  

Okay, but I don’t think that our current President would do that.  Contrary to a lot of the fear-mongering that goes around, he seems to have his head on pretty straight.  Look at what he actually says and does, rather than some of the wild claims that have been made about him.  

Now, if that petition was directed at China’s Communist government, I could see some actual reason for it, because they actually have threatened to stop selling medications and medical supplies to us if they don’t get their way on certain issues.

 Look at what he actually says and does,

I do pay attention to what he actually says and does...and that is the absolutely frightening part
...watching the words come right out of his mouth...no spin necessary.

From the article:

And the move to secure the intellectual property of CureVac, whether for exclusive or general use, is bound to inflame that debate.

There's a huge difference between these two options. The US writing a large check to buy the IP of the company so it can be shared with others to speed development of a vaccine makes a lot of sense. Buying the company for exclusivity is a different matter entirely.

a few days ago Angela Merkel said: "Nope, that s not gonna happen ... solved..."

german: Merkel erklärt CureVac-Streit für beendet

I'm personally more interested in ensuring that the world puts out this fire before it even has a chance to start, then what sort of government that originates the fuel.

The problem is not just that Donald Trump tried to convince this German biotech company to move to the U.S., but that any company or any person, or any government could try to do this, if we, as global citizens do not put a stop to it.  

I can't read German, Tobias.  But, the G7 basically said that they wanted to do the right thing, and the U.S. denied that it was going to keep the vaccine for itself.  The potential is there, however, and that, to me, is frightening.  It's not fear mongering to create an understanding of that which is frightening.

Angela Merkel said no to selling it. And you don t mess with her in times of crisis.

but ... according to german laws it will take many years to get any medicine/vaccine approved. Unless government decides to speed things up, what they will probably do

Call me naive, but I choose to believe that in a time like this, the world will continue to come together and share research and supplies for the greater good.

I'd like to think so too, Trace.  But some people are selfish, and, unfortunately that selfishness is an unfortunate product of the current business and social model in many regards...  Hence the hoading of toilet paper, surgical masks, and hand sanitizer, by what would otherwise possibly be considered a socially responsible populace.  

Thoughts of a history of genocide in many pleace aside and to the contrary, I do have some faith in humanity.  But sometimes the masses and the politicals need a nudge in the right direction, and as such, I thought it prudent to post the petition, regardless of whether Trump and this Biotech company had plans to capitalize on this.

I think that maybe what is being forgotten here is that we will build/ are building natural herd immunity to the coronavirus with or without a vaccine, just like we have for many other types of illnesses through the last few thousand years. Besides which, by far the vast majority that are getting this particular virus are coming through it without any issues, basically with symptoms like they had a cold or a mild flu. Even if we do get a vaccine for this virus, it is likely to have the same percentage of effectiveness that the flu vaccine has, namely 19 and 60%, with the average rate for the last 10 years being about 44% effectiveness rate according to the CDC ( https://www.cdc.gov/flu/vaccines-work/effectiveness-studies.htm). Then there's the fact that while we may develop a vaccine for the current virus, viruses are notorious for mutating so that this year's vaccine may or may not work in the future, being dependent on the strain of the virus. Again, just like the flu vaccine, which is why it has such a relatively low effective rate. I also question the flu vaccine's cited effectiveness rate, in general. Who is to say that just because someone got a vaccine that it is the reason they did not get the flu. I've never gotten a flu vaccine, for example, but I have also never had the flu. The same is true for every person that is in my family and friend circle. None of them have had a flu vaccine, and none of them have ever had the flu. So if they/we had gotten the flu vaccine, would it be considered that the vaccine was what caused us not to get the flu, even though the person would not have gotten the flu anyway? In that case, the true effectiveness rate of the flu vaccine is quite a bit lower than what is currently being cited. And I have a feeling we would/will see similar numbers with this coronavirus vaccine when it does come to market. My point is that perhaps instead of thinking that a vaccine will save us from this virus and therefore placing a lot of importance and emphasis on it, we should focus, instead, on getting/keeping strong immune systems and building a natural and true herd immunity to it which should not be dependent on getting lab made chemicals injected into ourselves on a regular basis.
On another front, there seems to be a very promising thing happening in Australia at the moment as far as CURING the virus:
https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/coronavirus-australia-queensland-researchers-find-cure-want-drug-trial/news-story/93e7656da0cff4fc4d2c5e51706accb5
Wishing you all health, health, and more health!

Some people don't take vaccines, and it's better, in my opinion, to take a pill than a vaccine, for sure, especially if it as effective as these Aussies are saying they think it is.   Hopefully, this magic pill will do the trick, on top of herd immunity.