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Medicine Technology

US Says It Won't Join WHO-Linked Effort To Develop, Distribute Coronavirus Vaccine (washingtonpost.com) 215

The Trump administration said it will not join a global effort to develop, manufacture and equitably distribute a coronavirus vaccine, in part because the World Health Organization is involved, a decision that could shape the course of the pandemic and the country's role in health diplomacy. The Washington Post reports: More than 170 countries are in talks to participate in the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (Covax) Facility, which aims to speed vaccine development and secure doses for all countries and distribute them to the most high-risk segment of each population. The plan, which is co-led by the WHO, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and Gavi, the vaccine alliance, was of interest to some members of the Trump administration and is backed by traditional U.S. allies, including Japan, Germany and the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union.

But the United States will not participate, in part because the White House does not want to work with the WHO, which President Trump has criticized over what he characterized as its "China-centric" response to the pandemic. "The United States will continue to engage our international partners to ensure we defeat this virus, but we will not be constrained by multilateral organizations influenced by the corrupt World Health Organization and China," said Judd Deere, a spokesman for the White House. The Covax decision, which has not been previously reported, is effectively a doubling down by the administration on its bet that the United States will win the vaccine race. It eliminates the chance to secure doses from a pool of promising vaccine candidates -- a potentially risky strategy.

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US Says It Won't Join WHO-Linked Effort To Develop, Distribute Coronavirus Vaccine

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  • It's Trump (Score:5, Insightful)

    by dmay34 ( 6770232 ) on Tuesday September 01, 2020 @09:19PM (#60464144)
    It's Trump, what do you expect. Of course this means that the US effort will almost certainly fall woefully behind and Trump is going to throw a little twitter temper tantrum about why the rest of world is refusing to provide vaccines to Americans.
    • Re: It's Trump (Score:5, Insightful)

      by orlanz ( 882574 ) on Tuesday September 01, 2020 @09:31PM (#60464178)

      At this point I don't think the WHO or the members care. Historically, the US is a leader in these kinds of efforts. And in being so, other major countries rally around and support the direction the US chooses thus giving it the weight that almost everyone follows and all reap the benefits of.

      But in COVID-19, the US not only hasn't led but also hasn't supported the ones leading. This has pretty much isolated the US from the rest; and that too is something the US has actually aimed for. And it doesn't look like the rest are spending any efforts to change that. Maybe it will be a humbling experience for the US in 4 years.

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by niftydude ( 1745144 )

        But in COVID-19, the US not only hasn't led but also hasn't supported the ones leading. This has pretty much isolated the US from the rest; and that too is something the US has actually aimed for. And it doesn't look like the rest are spending any efforts to change that. Maybe it will be a humbling experience for the US in 4 years.

        So the 30 thousand US citizens involved in the Oxford Covid vaccine trial isn't considered support in your view? You know, the leading vaccine that is currently furthest developed that the US has been supporting all along.

        • Re: It's Trump (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 01, 2020 @11:27PM (#60464440)

          Uh. Let's get this right. A Vaccine developed in the UK (at Oxford) is undergoing broad trials before final approval. They need a mass of people who were almost certainly going to be exposed to the virus in their normal environment.

          They went to places like the US and Brazil simply because the virus is uncontained there (out of control) and this move will firm up the data as quickly and certainly as is currently possible. Ethics doesn't currently allow for the deliberate exposure of the hundred or more thousand people needed to shore up the data for a mere "candidate". Going to a place like New Zealand is a total waste of time and effort. Stupid Government there isn't letting it spread, so the data is useless.

          So, are you saying that the US has been supporting the Oxford Covid vaccine trial "all along" by creating an environment where the spread dynamics are able to be accurately modelled by simply letting the virus rage out of control? That is the only support that is usefully evident. I had no idea it was intentional!

          USA USA USA! Ready to sacrifice its blood and treasure in great proportion to enhance world health. Amazing.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        Yep, and guess who is to blame for that? Chances are we'll be snubbed if someone else comes up with an effective vaccine before we do; we'll all be left out in the cold, all because of the myopic excuse for leadership we've had since January 2017.
      • Re: It's Trump (Score:4, Informative)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Wednesday September 02, 2020 @03:32AM (#60464774) Homepage Journal

        COVID-19 vaccine progress tracker: https://www.theguardian.com/wo... [theguardian.com]

        The leading candidates are:

        - Oxford/AstraZenica, UK
        - Wuhan Institute of Biological Products/Sinopharm, China
        - Sinovac, China
        - Beijing Institute of Biological Products/Sinopharm, China
        - University of Melbourne/Murdoch Childrenâ(TM)s Research Institute, Australia
        - BioNTech/Fosun Pharma/Pfizer, US
        - Moderna/NIAID, US

        That last one is a bit out there, Moderna is using a new technique that has never been approved before and the company has never brought a treatment to market.

        Anyway, the current front runners are the Chinese and the UK. The British one is unlikely to be approved this year, and brexit is screwing the process up. The Chinese ones might be approved this year but then we have to wait for international approval, and again brexit may push the UK towards the back of the queue.

      • In the UAE, 16000 people were already immunized against Covid (the other 16000 got a placebo).
    • by kenh ( 9056 )

      Which of those 170 nation partners is bringing anything to the table other than a desire to piggy-back on our investment and effort? Maybe 5 other countries, that's it.

  • by bogaboga ( 793279 ) on Tuesday September 01, 2020 @09:31PM (#60464176)

    ...But the United States will not participate, in part because the White House does not want to work with the WHO, which President Trump has criticized over what he characterized as its "China-centric" response to the pandemic...

    This administration forgets that decisions taken under the auspices of the WHO will affect it whether the USA likes it or not.

    I sometimes feel sorry for officials that work for this administration. Have they asked themselves why the [mighty] USA hasn't done well as compared with more "needy" countries?

    The administration just does not get it. Like the saying goes, “The dogs bark but the caravan moves on.”

    • why do you think that? Do you imagine the WHO has laboratories that develop vaccines? They push buttons and paper, they are office workers.

    • by gtall ( 79522 )

      Introspection is not allowed in the alleged administration. It brings up too many questions concerning capability.

  • Disgusting (Score:5, Informative)

    by OMBad ( 6965950 ) on Tuesday September 01, 2020 @09:54PM (#60464236)
    Trump is going to get us all killed!
    • I'm sorry, is that the same Trump who has already secured at least 100 million doses of each of the five most promising vaccines?

      This article is little more than a complaint that we aren't going through the WHO to do what we are already doing.

  • by Can'tNot ( 5553824 ) on Tuesday September 01, 2020 @09:59PM (#60464254)
    The only competitors in the vaccine race are 1: humans, and 2: the virus. If a group based in the United States develops an effective vaccine before anyone else, then it does us little good to try and keep it to ourselves.

    It's likely that this is really about money: if the US doesn't sign on to something which amounts to a cross-licensing agreement, then they can extort the rest of the world for access to the vaccine. This probably won't work. Under the circumstances, I'd expect most of the rest of the world to just ignore any relevant pharmaceutical patent treaties.

    Then you have to wonder what the US will do if a vaccine is developed elsewhere first. Those patent treaties are almost always pushed by the US, it's the US who cares about them. Though the US does have a history of ignoring treaties whenever it feels like it.
    • by PCM2 ( 4486 )

      I'd expect most of the rest of the world to just ignore any relevant pharmaceutical patent treaties.

      I'll double down on that, and say that in such a situation, I'd fully expect some scientist somewhere to just go ahead and leak the entire manufacturing process involved.

      • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        The two leaders in this race, China and the UK, may well decide to give it away for free anyway. China will enjoy the publicity and the UK desperately needs some goodwill as it flounders post-brexit.

    • by Cyberax ( 705495 )

      It's likely that this is really about money: if the US doesn't sign on to something which amounts to a cross-licensing agreement, then they can extort the rest of the world for access to the vaccine.

      Extort? The US will gladly spend billions of taxpayers money to buy the vaccine. You think pharma corps won't be eager to sell a license for 10x the cost in other countries?

    • by Tom ( 822 )

      The only competitors in the vaccine race are 1: humans, and 2: the virus.

      You went to the wrong show and are now wondering where the animals are.

      No, the only competitors are: Those who make money vs. those who are going to end up paying for the vaccine. Either by buying it, or by paying for it with their tax money.

      This is a huge business opportunity. Whoever can mass-manufacture the first vaccine that has all the papers signed and permissions given will make billions.

  • by WindBourne ( 631190 ) on Tuesday September 01, 2020 @11:33PM (#60464448) Journal
    The man is one large piece of shit.
  • I don't know how many times it needs to be said because the point has been made so many times.

    Trump says stupid shit, nothing is based on science, his understanding of "politics" is only "petty retribution" (like "Chy-nuh") and he's Putin's lapdog.

    He's the stupidest president we've ever had the pieces of shit in the senate who support him and the house who won't call him out on it are complicit in leading our country into disaster.

    E

  • This sounds like a decision only a gambler would choose.

    He is betting too much that the U.S. can stand alone. Whether the U.S. agrees with the WTO or not, the WTO has taken the initiative which maybe he should have to establish a coalition that should be above politics to do what is right.

    He may not realize that if he were to attempt to form a separate coalition, not all countries involved will agree to be members of yet another coalition.

    He seems to believe America can do this alone. And this is a big gamb
    • Re:Casinos? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by gtall ( 79522 ) on Wednesday September 02, 2020 @04:23AM (#60464844)

      The alleged president has been a gambler all his life, and a bad one at that. Gambler is also putting lipstick on that pig. In business, he stiffed small companies which provided him services whenever he could get away with it. When American banks figured him out, he found new marks in Deutsche Bank and Russia. He's always been able find new marks to fund his "operations". Now as alleged president, he found new marks in the Republican Party, after he cleansed it of the ones who had any conservative principles. The Christian Right fell right over for him because they are some of the biggest rubes on the planet and had no principles to hold dear.

      With the Covid issue, he continually looks for new marks to pin the blame. However, as Thomas Friedman pointed out, you cannot fool Mother Nature, she always wins and has no pity. Currently, to attempt to solve his political problems of his own making, he's throwing Hail Mary passes every which way hoping one of them scores a touchdown. However, he has no depth perception, that would entail he develop a strategy that could meet the problems on their own terms. He's never been able to do that about anything, he cannot learn, and he cannot think beyond a toddler's "I like, I want".

    • He may not realize that if he were to attempt to form a separate coalition, not all countries involved will agree to be members of yet another coalition.

      How many countries would form a coalition with Trump? He has never kept his word in the past. Why would they expect him to do so in the future? The sensible plan is to wait until after the election, and either

      • Trump wins - everyone else loses
      • Its a whole new ball game - any Americans still alive may have a different plan

      Disclaimer: America looks differe

      • by kenh ( 9056 )

        huge numbers of people are homeless and dying from lack of medical care

        Simply not true.

        Hospitals provide emergency care no matter a patients ability to pay (insurance), they only need to get to the hospital. Anyone that chooses death because they fear a medical bill is a victim of their own decision.

        • You seem unaware of what emergency care actually consists of. It's immediate life saving care only. If you have a heart attack, the ER will try to save you, but they won't supply the meds that would have stopped it from happening in the first place. People die all the time because by the time they're bad enough off for emergency care, it's too late and not much can be done, but something could have been done if it was addressed sooner. That's what people mean when we talk about dying from lack of care.
    • Did you know that we have already bought at least 100 million doses each of the five most promising vaccine candidates? 300 million in the case of the Oxford vaccine. In addition to the other billions we have provided for research and testing.

      So, since we're already doing what is right, why should we get tied up in the WHO's politics?

      • by kenh ( 9056 )

        So that 170 countries can "share" in our stockpile because they feel they deserve it.

    • by kenh ( 9056 )

      Not alone, we have our partners Chinese, French, English, others - we'll somehow have to muddle through without Angola & Cameroon's contributions...

  • It's the current US government, hopefully soon to be removed. New government will spend ages fixing all the damage the current government has done.
    • by kenh ( 9056 )

      The same folks that "fixed" healthcare in America in 2010? They started with a blank piece of paper, wrote a 1,500 page bill, declared the problem solved and then struggled with a website rollout for a year. Along the way they re-defined the work week to 30 hours and stretched the definition of "affordability" and transformed "fines" into "taxes".

      Yeah, it'll be awesome.

      Are they promising any "shovel-ready" solutions?

      • by DogDude ( 805747 )
        The ACA was one of the most important bills signed in the past decade. Millions of people who didn't previously have health insurance got health insurance because of the ACA.

        Next, single payer!
  • by sabbede ( 2678435 ) on Wednesday September 02, 2020 @07:28AM (#60465160)
    As I recall, we've pre-purchased millions of doses of every promising vaccine candidate; directly contradicting the last lines of the summary.
    • The U.S. federal government has made substantial pre-purchases, including up to $2.1B for 100M doses from Sanofi-GSK, $1.95B for 100M doses from BioNTech-Pfizer, $1.6B for 100M doses from NovaVax vaccine, and $1.2B for 300M doses from AstraZeneca-Oxford. (https://blog.petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2020/08/11/covid19-vaccine-advance-purchases-explained/)

      Plus another 100m Johnson and Johnson doses.

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