As the omicron variant spreads, MSF calls on companies to immediately share lifesaving mRNA vaccine technology with manufacturers that stand ready to boost the global supply
NEW YORK/GENEVA, DECEMBER 8, 2021—One year since the first dose of COVID-19 mRNA vaccine was administered, only eight percent of people in low-income countries have received even one dose, said the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). MSF is calling on Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna to share vaccine technology and know-how to help rapidly expand the global vaccine supply. Given the substantial US taxpayer funding provided to these companies—for development and advanced vaccine dose purchases—the Biden administration must use legal leverage afforded by the Defense Production Act and other laws to direct these companies to share vaccine information. The COVID-19 pandemic won’t be over for anyone until it’s over for everyone.
“In one year, more than 8 billion doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered, but the percentage of vaccinated people in low-income countries remains in the single digits—including in many of the places MSF works,” said Mihir Mankad, senior global health advocacy and policy advisor at MSF-USA. “The US government can't allow this inequity in access to vaccines to continue. Despite what Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech want us to believe, we don’t have to rely on them alone for our vaccine supply. There are additional companies across the world that stand ready to help boost the global supply if the mRNA recipe is shared. Since Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech aren’t actively sharing this information, the Biden administration should demand they do so.”
