4 ms·

Cry me a river. Oxford was going to open-source the vaccine until Bill Gates convinced them to give an exclusive contract to AZ, to lean on their supposed capa

Cry me a river. Oxford was going to open-source the vaccine until Bill Gates convinced them to give an exclusive contract to AZ, to lean on their supposed capacity to manage clinical trials and related administrative issues (even though they aren't a vaccine-focused company). Not a conspiracy theory: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/23/world/bill-gates-vaccine-coronavirus.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/23/world/bill-gates-vaccine-... https://khn.org/news/rather-than-give-away-its-covid-vaccine-oxford-makes-a-deal-with-drugmaker/ https://khn.org/news/rather-than-give-away-its-covid-vaccine...

belltaco 6y ago
That's not a conspiracy theory, that's misinformation. You're misreading it. It's still royalty free. https://innovation.ox.ac.uk/technologies-available/technology-licensing/expedited-access-covid-19-related-ip/ https://innovation.ox.ac.uk/technologies-available/technolog... Bill Gates just got them a close partner in AZ to test and distribute it. E.g Serum Institute is able to make it for free without paying royalties to AZ or Oxford..
- overton 6y ago
  The Kaiser piece is pretty clear -- AZ got an exclusive deal. Here's Bill Gates on his reasoning for pushing the exclusivity deal. Basically he claims to be the authority on which factories/companies are "capable" and which ones are not. https://youtu.be/Grv1RJkdyqI?t=564 https://youtu.be/Grv1RJkdyqI?t=564 With that in mind, it's sadly ironic that they ended up going with a company that hasn't been able to convince people that their shot is safe and effective. As I understand it the Serum Institute of India got access through a partnership with AZ, not through a partnership with Oxford directly. https://www.astrazeneca.com/media-centre/press-releases/2021/serum-institute-of-india-obtains-emergency-use-authorisation-in-india-for-astrazenecas-covid-19-vaccine.html https://www.astrazeneca.com/media-centre/press-releases/2021... This issue is a little touchy for me because lots of vaccine manufacturers passed over our country (Canada) for manufacturing, because the capacity was "too small for them" https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/every-covid-vaccine-manufacturer-passed-on-making-them-in-canada-federal-procurement-minister https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/every-covid-vaccine-m... Despite the fact that we apparently had a facility to manufacture millions of doses by the end of 2020. https://theconversation.com/the-roots-of-canadas-covid-19-vaccine-shortage-go-back-decades-154792 https://theconversation.com/the-roots-of-canadas-covid-19-va... And now we're doing really poorly in the vaccination effort. So yes, I wonder how it could have gone if AZ didn't gatekeep access (and bungle the public relations/comms front). Interestingly, the company that apparently could have manufactured vaccines in Canada has a recent legal conflict with Bill Gates. https://globalnews.ca/news/5035009/gates-foundation-sues-can https://globalnews.ca/news/5035009/gates-foundation-sues-can... Given that Bill Gates had a confirmed influence on the decision of Oxford to license exclusively to AZ, who's to say he didn't push AZ to not manufacture at this facility? It's not a far-fetched thing to imagine, given the "vetting" role he claimed in the YT clip I linked. We'll probably never know, because this backroom exercise of power is not accountable to the general public, though it has serious implications for all of us. (edited to lump together several comments)
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overton 6y ago
Not sure why this is so controversial. Man got rich off of strong IP protections & market concentration and is now pushing the same in his "philanthropic" work.

belltaco 6y ago

That's not a conspiracy theory, that's misinformation. You're misreading it. It's still royalty free. https://innovation.ox.ac.uk/technologies-available/technology-licensing/expedited-access-covid-19-related-ip/ https://innovation.ox.ac.uk/technologies-available/technolog... Bill Gates just got them a close partner in AZ to test and distribute it. E.g Serum Institute is able to make it for free without paying royalties to AZ or Oxford..

overton 6y ago
The Kaiser piece is pretty clear -- AZ got an exclusive deal. Here's Bill Gates on his reasoning for pushing the exclusivity deal. Basically he claims to be the authority on which factories/companies are "capable" and which ones are not. https://youtu.be/Grv1RJkdyqI?t=564 https://youtu.be/Grv1RJkdyqI?t=564 With that in mind, it's sadly ironic that they ended up going with a company that hasn't been able to convince people that their shot is safe and effective. As I understand it the Serum Institute of India got access through a partnership with AZ, not through a partnership with Oxford directly. https://www.astrazeneca.com/media-centre/press-releases/2021/serum-institute-of-india-obtains-emergency-use-authorisation-in-india-for-astrazenecas-covid-19-vaccine.html https://www.astrazeneca.com/media-centre/press-releases/2021... This issue is a little touchy for me because lots of vaccine manufacturers passed over our country (Canada) for manufacturing, because the capacity was "too small for them" https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/every-covid-vaccine-manufacturer-passed-on-making-them-in-canada-federal-procurement-minister https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/every-covid-vaccine-m... Despite the fact that we apparently had a facility to manufacture millions of doses by the end of 2020. https://theconversation.com/the-roots-of-canadas-covid-19-vaccine-shortage-go-back-decades-154792 https://theconversation.com/the-roots-of-canadas-covid-19-va... And now we're doing really poorly in the vaccination effort. So yes, I wonder how it could have gone if AZ didn't gatekeep access (and bungle the public relations/comms front). Interestingly, the company that apparently could have manufactured vaccines in Canada has a recent legal conflict with Bill Gates. https://globalnews.ca/news/5035009/gates-foundation-sues-can https://globalnews.ca/news/5035009/gates-foundation-sues-can... Given that Bill Gates had a confirmed influence on the decision of Oxford to license exclusively to AZ, who's to say he didn't push AZ to not manufacture at this facility? It's not a far-fetched thing to imagine, given the "vetting" role he claimed in the YT clip I linked. We'll probably never know, because this backroom exercise of power is not accountable to the general public, though it has serious implications for all of us. (edited to lump together several comments)
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overton 6y ago

Not sure why this is so controversial. Man got rich off of strong IP protections & market concentration and is now pushing the same in his "philanthropic" work.