At least nine people have become enormously wealthy since the beginning of the pandemic due to the profits made by pharmaceutical companies that control the manufacturing of coronavirus vaccines. The Alliance for the Basque Country has analyzed the data from the list of millionaires of the journal Forbes, which show "the great wealth that is largely generated for a few people thanks to publicly funded vaccines". The Cheroa Country Alliance has among its organizations Amnesty International, Oxfam and UNAIDS.

The list of "new vaccine rich" against the coronavirus is headed by the executive directors Moderna and BioNTech, Stéphane Terraces and Ugur Sahin, each with a capital of over 4 billion dó lares.Esta list also includes two investors from Moderna and the president of this U.S. biotech company, as well as the director general of a company with an agreement for the large measure. The last three rich on the list, however, are the founders of the Chinese company CanSino Biologics.

Activists report that "millionaires of vaccines are being produced." These companies have control of the monopoly on vaccines: "control the supply and price of vaccines and, in addition to increasing their profits, create difficulties in getting the vaccines that poor countries need," he added.

Vaccines financed with public money

According to the report of the Non-Healthy Institutional Alliance, since the beginning of the pandemic, coronavirus vaccines have received nearly 5,000 million euros from public funds and philanthropic institutions. They have denounced that this investment has become "in the hands of" the pharmaceutical sector, "without conditions, without ensuring universal access to all countries and fair prices".

According to the document, the United States and Germany are the main investors in R&D in vaccines. Behind them are the United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada, Norway, Singapore and China. These funds have been targeted by research groups and pharmaceutical companies. Janssen, Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech and Curevac top the list of those who have received the most public R & D money: more than half of the documented public investment.

In 2020, governments around the world committed themselves to financing R & D and to ensuring distribution and supply by companies. However, the members of No Se Sano have recalled that the responses that have followed have resulted in an "unjust and unbalanced" distribution of vaccines. Thus, "most vaccines have been collected in rich countries, leaving low- and middle-income countries behind."

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that rich countries account for 15 per cent of the world's population, but they account for 45 per cent of global vaccines. Low- and lower-middle-income countries account for almost half of the world's population, but they have received only 17% of the world's vaccines. On the other hand, the WHO estimates that more than 75% of vaccines are in 10 countries.

Anna Marriot, head of Oxfam’s health policies, said: “These vaccines were funded with public money and, above all, they should take care of the global public good, not a private benefit option. These monopolies must end as soon as possible in order to increase the production of vaccines, lower prices and be able to vaccinate the world," he added.

The Non-Healthy Partnership report calls on governments, pharmacists and research centers to join so-called joint access to anti-COVID-19 technology. This mechanism, created a year ago by the WHO, aims at granting licenses in a non-exclusive and transparent way to make the most of the manufacturing capacityn.Por the time, the producers of the main vaccines have not joined the initiative.