“A matter of life and death,” FDP chief Christian Lindner said of the speed of the vaccination campaign on Sunday in a “picture” broadcast. And he specifically suggested a “crisis production.” He wants the corona vaccine to be produced by other manufacturers under license: “The government should consult with the pharmaceutical industry as a whole: Where is there still capacity that can be used for the production of a vaccine?”
An alliance of developing and emerging countries led by India and South Africa has long been calling for a waiver of patent protection during the pandemic. Because while rich industrial nations have already secured vaccination doses from various manufacturers, according to Amnesty International, around 70 poor countries will only be able to vaccinate one in ten residents against coronavirus next year. The World Health Organization (WHO) has already called several times this year to make corona vaccination “common property.”
There is a model solution: fight HIV. It has only been possible to make low-cost generics since the WTO weakened patent protection there in 2003. Indian labs in Pune would apparently also be able to make the groundbreaking mRNA vaccine, if allowed. But so far, the demands of the initiators have rebounded. Among other things, the EU and the US resisted a kind of “expropriation” of vaccine manufacturers so as not to jeopardize competition.
The Swedish-British group Astra Zeneca, whose vaccine, developed together with the University of Oxford, is about to be approved in Great Britain, is setting a good example: it has already signed a license agreement with the Serum Institute of India (SII ). It is said to produce hundreds of millions of cans for emerging and developing countries.
Markus Söder: “The pace must be increased enormously”
Who owns the Corona vaccine? This question is complicated; after all, it touches on legal, economic and ethical issues. Now the debate in Germany, where the manufacturer Biontech is based, is gathering new momentum. It also seems unfair: Israel, for example, which ordered a large number of vaccines from Mainz developers early on, wants to vaccinate 60 percent of the population by March.
“There is simply too little vaccine,” said Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (53, CSU) of “Bild am Sonntag”. And he demanded: «The speed of production must be massively increased. Otherwise, a lot of people have to wait too long. ”In addition to FDP leader Christian Lindner, the camp on the left especially wants vaccine manufacturers to get a patent law.
“According to the first civil protection law, the Minister of Health can oblige companies to grant other companies a license to reproduce,” said left-wing health politician Achim Kessler (56) the “mirror”. The federal government must now do it quickly. “If the federal government does not exhaust all legal possibilities, it puts countless human lives at risk.”
Spahn refuses to grant a license
But the Minister of Health, Jens Spahn (40), refuses. “I don’t understand this vaccine nationalism,” the CDU politician told ZDF on Monday when asked why more vaccines are not being produced in Germany. The production is in Germany, the Biontech vaccine filling plant is in Belgium. “During this pandemic, we did well to network in Europe. Together with Biontech and Pfizer, we are doing everything possible to ensure that there can be additional production facilities in Germany. ”The aim is to enable additional production in Marburg, Hesse, in February or March.
Spahn doesn’t think licensing offers a time advantage. “As if you could increase vaccine production anywhere in Germany or Europe in three or four weeks!” He said. In the field of drug production, vaccines are “the most complex and demanding thing that exists”. That needs prior notice.
It remains to be seen how the debate will continue, also in an international context. Several vaccines are about to be approved or are in the critical phase of development 3.
In any case, one country is fine: Canada. Canadians, who have already approved the Moderna vaccine in addition to the Biontech / Pfizer vaccine, have secured more vaccine doses than any other country in relation to population (37.59 million). Y: you want to share! Canada announced early on that it would be looking for donation opportunities. Now Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (49) said in a television interview: “If we have more vaccines than necessary, of course we will share them with the world.”