stiglitz298_ Rodrigo PaivaGetty Images_vaccines brazil

应对疫苗短缺问题的巴西先锋方案

Dec 2, 2021 Joseph E. Stiglitz , Achal Prabhala, Felipe Carvalho

发自纽约—世界贸易组织本应在本周召开会议，审议在过去一年中持续被搁置的一项提案：在新冠疫情期间暂时放弃某些药品的知识产权，从而允许穷国在整场疫情过程中实施多项与富国相同的检测、治疗和接种。但这时却响起了一记展现该议题紧迫性的残酷警钟——南非科学家发现了新冠病毒Omicron变异株（尽管尚未找到其确切来源），会议被推迟了。

各界几乎一致认为为全球所有人接种疫苗是结束疫情的唯一途径。疫苗接种率越高，病毒发生危险突变的几率就越少。在迅速成为全球感染率最高的变异株之前，新冠Delta变异株在印度被首度发现，而该国只有不到3%的人口接种过疫苗。当前非洲则是全球疫苗接种率最低的地区，只有7%的非洲人接种过全套疫苗。

贫穷国家缺乏足够疫苗的原因很简单：缺乏足够的剂量可供接种。捐赠并没有解决这个问题，因为没有哪个国家手里有几十亿剂多余疫苗。慈善机构也未能达到预期效果，比如承诺要在2021年底前向贫困国家运送20亿剂疫苗的国际团体新冠肺炎疫苗实施计划（COVAX）目前也只输送了计划数量的25%。

To continue reading, register now.

As a registered user, you can enjoy more PS content every month – for free.

Subscribe now for unlimited access to everything PS has to offer.

Already have an account? Log in

Subscribe to Project Syndicate

Enjoy unlimited access to the ideas and opinions of the world's leading thinkers, including weekly long reads, book reviews, topical collections, and interviews; The Year Ahead annual print magazine; the complete PS archive; and more. All for less than $9 a month.

Subscribe Now

Joseph E. Stiglitz

Writing for PS since 2001
308 Commentaries

Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate in economics and University Professor at Columbia University, is a former chief economist of the World Bank (1997-2000), chair of the US President’s Council of Economic Advisers, and co-chair of the High-Level Commission on Carbon Prices. He is a member of the Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation and was lead author of the 1995 IPCC Climate Assessment.

Achal Prabhala

Writing for PS since 2020
2 Commentaries

Achal Prabhala, a former fellow at the Shuttleworth Foundation, is a coordinator of the AccessIBSA project, which campaigns for access to medicines in India, Brazil, and South Africa.

Felipe Carvalho

Writing for PS since 2021
1 Commentary

Felipe Carvalho is Coordinator of Médecins Sans Frontières' Access Campaign in Brazil and Latin America.

new comment has been posted. new comments have been posted.

0 Comments on this paragraph, 6 Comments on this article

Dallas Weaver, Ph.D. Dec 9, 2021

You can't share modern high technology with people who don't understand the science and art behind the technology. The scientists who publish in Journals like Science Mag (AAAS journal) want to transfer information and I will bet that Stiglitz and the other authors writing this article can't get any knowledge out of most of the "Reports" section papers. They don't have the basic scientific knowledge necessary to even learn.

As my son informed me decades ago (just a junior at UC Berkeley CS) when he published his first scientific paper and I asked him what it was about and his response was "Dad it will take me two hours to give you the vocabulary to read the abstract" and he was correct. The era of technology being simple enough to allow renaissance men (someone who knows all the human knowledge) to exist is long past.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
Madurai Padmanabhan Dec 9, 2021

Meantime the largest vaccine manufacturer in India has suspended Covid vaccine at the half of output as there are no fresh demand orders. Ludicrous and shameful state of affairs. Is no one to blame?
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
Dallas Weaver, Ph.D. Dec 5, 2021

As anyone anywhere can read the patents and published IP on the internet, the implicit assumption that anyone can make a vaccine is still false with or without TRIPS.

As is typical for those that don't understand the technical details that are relevant to actually making a vaccine that works, with nanometer-sized particles (smaller than what you can see with an optical microscope) and a big "art" component, demanding an institution gives you "working IP" is like obtaining Mozarts music doesn't mean you could play it if you don't have the skill and equipment.

Having produced and published a lot of IP in my day, I have had many people rip off my IP only to hear later that they made some trivial error and their copy failed. Sometimes it was decades before I found out that I was copied, when they were claiming my technology didn't work and when asked the details of what they did I told them "why" it failed. This is why China hasn't ripped off Moderna and the mRNA technology. They don't care about TRIPS.

Knowing a bit about chemistry and physics of what Moderna and Pfizer did, giving the IP to almost all people and government institutions is like giving paints and brushes to a bureaucrat and expecting Picasso. I have worked on a similar problem on and off for almost half a century and haven't been about to solve it (my application doesn't allow hard freezing for stability).

The reality is that these authors don't know enough to know how wrong they are in this case with this technology. A bit of a Dunning-Kruger effect where lawyers and economists think they know what they are talking about. Small molecule chemistry like the AIDS drugs or viagra is a lot easier with less ART.
- Ian Maitland Dec 5, 2021
  
  "Giving the IP to almost all people and government institutions is like giving paints and brushes to a bureaucrat and expecting Picasso."
  
  Game, set and match!
  A new reply to this comment has been posted.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
Gabriel Pieralisi Dec 4, 2021

I see a hint of Nixon here: "as Brazil goes, so will go the rest of that Latin American Continent".
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
Jaap Bosma Dec 2, 2021

As always, Joseph Stiglitz is spot on!
A new reply to this comment has been posted.