But drug companies have rebuffed entreaties to face the emergency by sharing their proprietary technology more freely with companies in developing nations. Biden has sided with the drug companies so far. Pakistan has received a small trickle of vaccine doses from China and none from Western drug companies, even though it is the world’s fifth-largest country, with about 220 million people. The high cost of HIV medications, protected by drug industry patents, prevented the treatments from reaching Africa in the late 1990s and created enormous pressure for distribution of low-cost pills. Even after his appeal to help in the global pandemic response was reported by the Associated Press, he said he has heard nothing from the vaccine companies.

Source: Washington Post March 21, 2021 01:41 UTC