In the week following the discovery of the Omicron variation, the wealth of big pharma executives and stockholders skyrocketed, with just eight top Pfizer and Moderna shareholders gaining a combined $10.31 billion.
Campaigners are urging governments to approve a waiver of intellectual property laws on Covid-19 vaccines and treatments, which would allow low- and middle-income nations to make their own vaccines and shatter big pharma’s monopolies. And this comes as global public health activists warn that unless wealthier governments and vaccine producers do more to address vaccination disparity, the world will continue to see more coronavirus variations.
Moderna’s stock jumped 13.61 percent after the announcement, closing at $310.61 a share on December 1st, up from $273.39 the day before. Pfizer’s stock increased 7.41 percent from $50.91 to $54.68 a share. In the week following the announcement, Moderna’s CEO, Stephane Bancel, gained more than $824 million in personal wealth. On November 26, he sold 10,000 shares for $319 each, netting $3.19 million.
Bancel, the maker of the Moderna vaccine, has seen its stock plummet after refusing to share the vaccine’s recipe with the World Health Organization. The company is also fighting in court to have the involvement of public financing and public scientists in the development of the vaccine erased. Scientists from the WHO are now attempting to reverse-engineer the vaccine.
Only 6% of people in low-income countries have had vaccinations, despite pharmaceutical companies selling booster shots to wealthy countries for a fraction of the price.
Pharmaceutical firms are “fueling an unparalleled human rights disaster,” according to Amnesty International. Lawyers are considering pursuing legal action against governments that have refused to waive intellectual property rights. South Africa has spearheaded efforts from low- and middle-income countries for more access to vaccines, tests, and treatments.
In a conversation Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now U.K. mentioned:
“We shouldn’t be calling this omicron; we should be calling this the Pfizer variant or the Moderna variant.”
He also shared that The World Health Organization is supporting a factory and experts in South Africa who are working on developing an mRNA vaccine. When they figure out how to accomplish it, they’ll share it with any country or factory that can safely create it. Pfizer and Moderna are based on this technique and plan to tell the rest of the world about it.
