In 2020, 11 European citizens launched an ambitious campaign: No Profit on the Pandemic. The campaign ended on 1 August. After two years of campaigning for access to Covid vaccination for all, the initiators look back and forward.
In 2020, 11 European citizens took the initiative to launch an ambitious campaign: No profit on the pandemic. Europe had a duty to take measures to ensure that the Covid vaccine was available to everyone, everywhere in the world. To this end, the 11 citizens submitted a citizens‘ proposal to the European Commission. Their proposal? To remove all barriers to the distribution of coronavirus vaccines and treatments, which were still in development. These barriers mainly concerned intellectual property rights, which, on the one hand, have for decades ensured huge profits for multinational pharmaceutical companies and, on the other hand, have limited access to medicines for people in many countries.
The fears of these citizens have become reality. As soon as the pharmaceutical giants developed their vaccines against the virus, they did not share their advances and did everything they could to protect their intellectual property rights. Profits took precedence, and global access to vaccines for all was not and still is not a priority for pharmaceutical companies.
The result is as follows. To date (July 2022), one-third of the world's population has not received any vaccine. In low-income countries, only 20% of the population have received a first dose. Healthy young people in rich countries are better protected than healthcare workers or high-risk patients in the poorest regions of the world. It should also be noted that a significant amount of vaccines has been wasted. An estimated 1.1 billion vaccines were over-ordered and could not be used in time. Belgium alone discarded 1.3 million doses, from January to July 2022.
At the same time, multinational pharmaceutical companies are making huge profits. They negotiated the price of vaccines and treatments in secret contracts with the European Commission. Pfizer made more than $80 billion in revenue in 2021, double that of previous years. Its profits also doubled to $25 billion. With its coronavirus vaccine and Covid drug, the company has a market share of around 70% in Europe and North America. This year, the company expects these two products alone to generate $50 billion in revenue.
In short, the global vaccination campaign has been a failure. We have vaccines that work well, but we are unable to protect the most vulnerable or vaccinate enough people to deal with the pandemic. On the contrary, the virus continues to find fertile ground for the development of new variants. The end of this pandemic is not yet in sight.
Nothing exposes the violence of our economic system more clearly than the struggle for access to coronavirus vaccines. If, by the end of 2021, only 40% of each country's population had been vaccinated, 600,000 lives could have been saved. And yet, some rich countries and the pharmaceutical industry choose to let a small group of companies make super profits while many people lose their lives, especially in poor countries.
So were the actions of the European campaign No Profit on Pandemic in vain? No, that is not the case. Since the 11 citizens launched their idea, it has received the support of hundreds of organisations across Europe. In Belgium, there are 60 organisations and two political parties. There is not a single European country where the proposal has not been supported. In total, more than a quarter of a million European citizens have signed the initiative via the European Commission's official website. Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands and Ireland have exceeded the target, and our country has even reached double the target, with more than 32,000 signatures.
In addition, the campaign for vaccine equality has had a major impact on public debate in Europe. The most significant victory? The monopoly system of large pharmaceutical companies is being discussed more than ever before. Politicians of different political persuasions recognise that intellectual property rights are hindering global access to coronavirus vaccines and that temporary patent suspensions are possible. In the European Parliament, a majority of MEPs voted twice in favour of temporarily waiving intellectual property rights on all resources that can help us in the fight against coronavirus.
However, the European Commission ignored the call from its own Parliament. It gave in to the powerful lobbying machine of the pharmaceutical industry. For two years, it sabotaged negotiations at the World Trade Organisation on a temporary suspension of the TRIPS agreement, only admitting in June that the intellectual property and monopolies of large pharmaceutical companies are an obstacle and that this system is failing. This suspension would have allowed manufacturers to produce vaccines and treatments for coronavirus anywhere in the world, but especially where they are most needed. This is the best way to provide a vaccine for everyone in the short term and thus build production capacity for future long-term health challenges.
Hundreds of thousands of people across Europe have «woken up» in the wake of the global health crisis. Pressure is mounting for action to be taken towards an alternative system of pharmaceutical development and production. It is time to act. Now. So that medicines and vaccines are available to current and future generations. So that the right to health is finally guaranteed and a reality for all.
