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I hope rich countries don't make it difficult for poor countries to get the vaccine, whether it is this one or Pfizer's.
by marwan-nwh 6y ago
I hope rich countries don't make it difficult for poor countries to get the vaccine, whether it is this one or Pfizer's.
- gautamdivgi 6y agoIt is difficult but its not because of the price, although that's there too. It's that developing countries may not have the infrastructure to transport and store the vaccine at the recommended temperature of -70C.
- Voloskaya 6y agoThe moderna vaccine does not need -70c, juste -20 to be stored indefinitely (regular freezer), and even higher than that if you can ship relatively quickly (i.e weeks)
- roywiggins 6y agoDeveloped countries don't have infrastructure for -70C distribution. The US is going to struggle to actually distribute the Pfizer vaccine. It's not like your local CVS has a freezer that goes down to -70C. Dry ice is possible but there's a shortage of that, too. Nobody has ever distributed a vaccine that needs to be stored at -70C. The Moderna one is much easier, you just need a normal freezer. Which is fine for developed countries, will still be a challenge elsewhere (but one they're used to, it's not the first vaccine that needs to be kept cold)
- rsynnott 6y agoThe ebola vaccine has to be held at -80C, though it hasn't been given to huge numbers of people.
- majewsky 6y agoMost developed countries don't have an existing infrastructure for Ebola vaccines, though.
- bluGill 6y agoThere is no shortage of dry ice. The input (CO2) is a byproduct of industrial processes (ethanol in particular) and so the market is completely glutted. It is also used for a number of industrial process so there is plenty of infrastructure to produce it in any city.
- xenocratus 6y agoPoor countries might face a different issue even if they get hold of vaccines - some of them (not sure if just Pfizer's) need to be kept in really cold environments [1]. Thus some countries will struggle with distributing it. [1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-54889084 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-54889084
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- bluGill 6y agoPfizer's is the worst, and they give you 5 days at more normal temperatures. It will be more much difficult logistically, but if needed anywhere in the world is 5 days from any place else if it is important enough.
- hocuspocus 6y agoIt doesn't seem to be rich vs poor countries in this case. The Moderna vaccine is expensive. Too expensive, even for some developed countries that rejected it as an option. If the US government is happy to hand out billions in funding and then pay a high price for the doses, why would a private company not take advantage of this? Somehow the EU/UK convinced AstraZeneca to sell the Oxford vaccine at production cost.
- rocqua 6y agoWhat makes this vaccine expensive? Is it manufacturing costs? if so, which. If not, is it purely mark-up?
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- MagnumOpus 6y agoThe cost to manufacture is cheap as chips - governments pay $3-$10 per shot when they buy millions. Transporting and administering increases the price but not significantly. Of course a country that could pay $1bn half a year ago in advance on the chance that the vaccine works will be ahead in the production queue in front of a poor country that only now puts in orders.
- bluGill 6y agoBill Gates was there looking for answers as well. And he has been working with some companies for long enough to get ahead of the line just because he was there before this need.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- vonmoltke 6y ago> If the US government is happy to hand out billions in funding and then pay a high price for the doses, why would a private company not take advantage of this? The US government paid Moderna $1B to fund the development and $1.5B for 100 million doses. They are paying Pfizer $1.9B for 100 million doses of their vaccine. I don't consider $25/dose (maximum) or $19/dose to be "a high price". https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus...
- pjc50 6y agoSurprisingly, it's many middle-income countries in southeast Asia that have done very well at controlling the virus without a vaccine. The worst hit places per https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/07/15/tracking-covid-19-excess-deaths-across-countries https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/07/15/tracking... seem to be Latin American; Mexico, Peru, Ecuador. It is possible that Africa simply lacks the data.
- Aperocky 6y agoThe worst hit place right now is the ~United States of America.~ West. It's amusing, if not hugely disappointing at the same time.
- esja 6y agoThis is not correct. If you adjust for population size, most of highly-developed Europe is doing much worse than the USA right now. That includes Germany, Switzerland, etc.
- pedrocr 6y agoThe US has had 34k cases and 760 deaths per million people. Germany has had 10k cases and 152 deaths per million people. So Germany has done 3 to 5 times better than the US so far. The only Western European country that has clearly worse numbers than the US is Belgium and in part that may be because they have a much broader definition of deaths with COVID19. Data from here: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries