- The French laboratory Sanofi has said that, if the vaccine is achieved, it is the highest priority they have, and the statements have sparked the indignation of the Government of France. Can the life-saving vaccine be maintained in the logic of the market?
The French Government has responded that the statements of the laboratory director Sanofi are "unacceptable" and that the COVID-19 vaccine should be "a global public good", in which all citizens have the same right.
In the face of the barullo it has created, the company Sanofi has nuanced the details and ensured that the vaccine would be accessible to everyone, and that it would be the vaccine produced in the United States.
The French Government has already announced that it intends to meet with the main laboratory officials next week.
Debate on the Bureau: Who is the vaccine going to be for?
The laboratory that makes the vaccine will not be able to produce, at least initially, the same as for everyone. So where are they going to start? Who has priority? The country most hit by the epidemic? The country that has achieved this? Who has invested the money?... A letter signed by internationally renowned personalities, including prime ministers, former rulers and the Nobel Laureates, warning that the interests of the richest institutions and governments cannot take precedence over the universal need to save lives and that the vaccine should be left out of the logic of the market. “To understand the vaccine and the treatment as a global public good is to bet on all of humanity; we cannot tolerate the involvement of monopolies, pure competition or blind nationalism,” the letter adds.