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<h1 class=" md:text-4xl font-medium news-header__title leading-tight lg:text-5xl xl:text-6xl text-2xl" id="675">Experts Identify 100 Plus Firms to Make Covid-19 mRNA Vaccines</h1><p class="news-header__subtitle text-base md:text-2xl"><b class=""><i class="">US, German Governments Should Press Vaccine Makers to Transfer Technology Widely</i></b></p>
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<p class="">(Washington, DC) – The new <a href="https://www.hrw.org/tag/coronavirus" class="">Covid-19</a>
variant underscores the dangers of severely unequal access to Covid-19
vaccines and the concentration of production in the US and Europe, Human
Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch and other groups wrote to
the <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/12/15/us-should-transfer-technology-covid-19-vaccines" class="">US </a>and <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/12/15/germany-should-transfer-technology-covid-19-vaccines" class="">German </a>governments urging them to act on a <a href="https://accessibsa.org/mrna" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">new list</a>
published today by experts identifying more than 100 companies in
Africa, Asia, and Latin America with the potential to produce mRNA
vaccines.</p><p class="">This new list makes it clear that increased production of mRNA
vaccines is possible outside the US and Europe. It illustrates that the
companies that developed safe and effective Covid-19 mRNA vaccines are
not sharing their knowledge and technology widely with capable
manufacturers. The US and German governments should take all available
measures to ensure that Covid-19 vaccine makers urgently transfer
technology to other capable manufacturers from Africa, Asia, and Latin
America, and the World Health Organization technology <a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/21-06-2021-who-supporting-south-african-consortium-to-establish-first-covid-mrna-vaccine-technology-transfer-hub" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">hub</a>.</p><p class="">“Global vaccine production forecasts suggesting there will soon be enough Covid-19 vaccines for the world are misleading,” said <a href="https://www.hrw.org/about/people/aruna-kashyap" class="">Aruna Kashyap</a>,
associate business and human rights director at Human Rights Watch.
“The US and German governments should press for wider technology
transfers and not let companies dictate where and how lifesaving
vaccines and treatments reach much of the world as the virus mutates.”</p><p class="">Diversifying and scaling up global production in low- and middle-income countries through <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/09/14/sharing-knowledge-technology-critical-curb-covid-19" class="">sharing</a> of knowledge and technology, <a href="https://msfaccess.org/sharing-mrna-vaccine-technologies-save-lives" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">especially for mRNA vaccines</a>, would help shore up vaccine supplies to leave the world better positioned to collectively respond to the pandemic.</p><p class="">The list of potential mRNA manufacturers was compiled by the coordinator of the <a href="https://accessibsa.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">AccessIBSA</a>
project, which campaigns for access to medicines in India, Brazil, and
South Africa, and a vaccine expert from the Médecins Sans Frontières
(MSF or Doctors Without Borders) Access Campaign.</p><p class="">Access to Covid-19 vaccines is extremely unequal globally and supply
shortages threaten health, lives, and livelihoods as new variants
emerge. As of November 29, low-income countries had received just <a href="https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-special-session-of-the-world-health-assembly---29-november-2021" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">0.6 percent</a>
of the world’s vaccines. The overwhelming majority of the
BioNTech-Pfizer, Moderna, and J&J vaccines have gone to high-income
countries, according to data gathered by Airfinity, a science
information and analysis company, and reported by the <a href="https://app.box.com/s/hk2ezb71vf0sla719jx34v0ehs0l22os" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">People’s Vaccine Alliance</a>.</p><p class="">Companies have human rights responsibilities to share their knowledge
and technology more widely for speedier pandemic recovery and
preparedness, Human Rights Watch said.</p><p class="">The US government provided approximately US$1 billion in public funds each to <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/11/24/fact-check-donations-research-grants-helped-fund-moderna-vaccine/6398486002/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">Moderna</a> and <a href="https://www.keionline.org/35793" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">J&J</a>, which produces a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/health/johnson-johnson-covid-19-vaccine.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">viral vector vaccine</a>, for Covid-19 vaccine research and development during the pandemic. The US National Institutes of Health funded <a href="https://www.citizen.org/article/leading-covid-19-vaccines-depend-on-nih-technology/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">foundational innovations</a> that made Moderna’s and Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccines possible. The US government also made <a href="https://www.knowledgeportalia.org/covid19-r-d-funding" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">advance purchases</a> of <a href="https://investors.pfizer.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2020/Pfizer-and-BioNTech-Announce-an-Agreement-with-U.S.-Government-for-up-to-600-Million-Doses-of-mRNA-based-Vaccine-Candidate-Against-SARS-CoV-2/default.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">Pfizer</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-moderna-vaccine-idUSKCN2572T5" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">Moderna</a>, and <a href="https://www.jnj.com/johnson-johnson-announces-agreement-with-u-s-government-for-100-million-doses-of-investigational-covid-19-vaccine" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">J&J</a>’s vaccines.</p><p class="">The German government provided <a href="https://investors.biontech.de/news-releases/news-release-details/biontech-receive-eu375m-funding-german-federal-ministry" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">significant funding</a>
to BioNTech to research and develop its mRNA Covid-19 vaccine with
Pfizer. The US and German governments have a responsibility to press
those companies to share knowledge and technology more widely, Human
Rights Watch said.</p><p class="">The list of over 100 potential mRNA vaccine manufacturers follows a list of 10 potential mRNA manufacturers published by the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/10/22/science/developing-country-covid-vaccines.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class=""><em class="">New York Times</em></a><em class="">.</em> Indian civil society organizations have <a href="https://accessibsa.org/indian-civil-society-letter-jj/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">identified</a> a list of potential manufacturers to scale up the production of the J&J vaccine.</p><p class="">“There are over 100 companies across Africa, Asia, and Latin America
who have the capacity to make an mRNA vaccine,” said Achal Prabhala from
the AccessIBSA project. “These companies can bridge the yawning
inequity in mRNA vaccine supply in poor countries. All they need is for
the US and German governments to end monopolies and share the valuable
technology they funded and essentially created with them.”</p><p class="">Potential manufacturers need access to intellectual property, vaccine
technology, and materials to produce more vaccines for a swifter and
more equitable Covid-19 response. India and South Africa’s <a href="https://docs.wto.org/dol2fe/Pages/SS/directdoc.aspx?filename=q:/IP/C/W669.pdf&Open=True" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">proposal</a> to temporarily waive some global intellectual property and trade rules remains stalled at the World Trade Organization.</p><p class="">A waiver would enable governments to collaborate on expanding the
manufacture of Covid-19 vaccines, treatments, and testing without
fearing trade-based retaliation. Over 60 low- and middle-income
governments are co-sponsoring the proposal. The US government has <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/05/05/biden-pledges-support-covid-19-intellectual-property-waiver" class="">signaled</a> support for a waiver. High-income governments, including Germany and the <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/06/03/seven-reasons-eu-wrong-oppose-trips-waiver" class="">European Commission</a>,
are among those who have consistently blocked the waiver. These
governments should drop their opposition to the TRIPS waiver immediately
and work toward swift adoption, Human Rights Watch said.</p><p class="">Civil society groups around the world, including the <a href="https://app.box.com/s/hk2ezb71vf0sla719jx34v0ehs0l22os" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">People’s Vaccine Alliance</a> and its <a href="https://peoplesvaccine.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">members</a>, have called for both the TRIPS waiver and wider technology transfers. UN experts <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=27670&LangID=E" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">wrote</a> to both the <a href="https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=26667" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">US</a> and <a href="https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=26704" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">German</a>
governments on October 14, among others, requesting information on
their efforts to “to avoid vaccine hoarding and to ensure global vaccine
procurement and distribution” including around strengthening the
capacity of low- and middle-income countries “to produce vaccines
themselves.”</p><p class="">According to the <a href="https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1ynJOZvkmYXGR" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">WHO</a>, every day there are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/11/12/world/covid-vaccine-boosters-mandates/a-scandal-who-says-the-rate-of-boosters-outstrips-some-poor-countries-vaccinations" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">six times more boosters</a> being administered globally than first doses in low-income countries.</p><p class="">Global production <a href="https://www.ifpma.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/IFPMA_News_Release_Media_Briefing_7Sept2021_FINAL.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">forecasts</a> <a href="https://www.ifpma.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/IFPMA_News_Release_Media_Briefing_7Sept2021_FINAL.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">commissioned by a pharmaceutical industry association</a> suggesting the world will soon have sufficient Covid-19 vaccine supply are misleading. Vaccine manufacturing has repeatedly <a href="https://globalcommissionforpostpandemicpolicy.org/covid-19-vaccine-production-to-august-31st-2021/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">fallen short of </a>projections. In September, COVAX, the global vaccine procurement initiative, <a href="https://www.gavi.org/news/media-room/joint-covax-statement-supply-forecast-2021-and-early-2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">announced</a> a 25 percent reduction in its expected vaccine supply for 2021.</p><p class="">These forecasts do not <a href="https://www.ifpma.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Airfinity_September_2021_Snapshot_COVID-19_Data.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">disaggregate</a> where particular vaccines are <a href="https://extranet.who.int/pqweb/vaccines/covid-19-vaccines" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">approved</a>
for use, which determines how and where they can be distributed. These
forecasts also fail to account for the additional doses needed for <a href="https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1ynJOZvkmYXGR" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">boosters</a>, the vaccination of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/countries-vaccinating-children-against-covid-19-2021-06-29/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">younger children</a>, or for <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/09/1100102" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">new variants</a>, as well as those lost to <a href="https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20210824.58595/full/#:~:text=Vaccine%20wastage%20is%20a%20reality,storage%2C%20transport%2C%20and%20administration" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">wastage</a>. These factors significantly increase global demand.</p><p class="">As of October 12, high-income governments had collectively pledged to
donate 1.8 billion vaccine doses, but just 14 percent had been
delivered, according to Airfinity data cited by the <a href="https://app.box.com/s/hk2ezb71vf0sla719jx34v0ehs0l22os" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">People’s Vaccine Alliance</a>.</p><p class="">On November 29 the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT), the
Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), and
COVAX <a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/29-11-2021-joint-statement-on-dose-donations-of-covid-19-vaccines-to-african-countries" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">stated</a> “the majority of the donations to-date have been ad hoc, provided with little notice and short shelf lives.” The lack of <a href="https://www.devex.com/news/pharma-industry-projects-12b-covid-19-vaccine-doses-by-end-of-year-101538" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">transparency</a>
around projected delivery schedules makes it impossible for
governments, COVAX, and other procurement efforts to know when vaccines
will be delivered for distribution.</p><p class="">Government pledges are inadequate since an approach focused on dose
redistribution does not increase and diversify pharmaceutical
manufacturing capacity in low- and middle-income countries, Human Rights
Watch said. The US and German vaccine developers <a href="https://www.unicef.org/supply/covid-19-vaccine-market-dashboard" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">heavily rely</a>
on US and European manufacturing. Limiting technology transfers to the
US and Europe significantly skews the global supply chain, making
vaccine access precarious and unpredictable.</p><p class="">Thus far, none of the companies has joined WHO-led initiatives to <a href="https://www.who.int/initiatives/covid-19-technology-access-pool" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">pool and share intellectual property</a>, and Pfizer, BioNTech, and Moderna have yet to participate in WHO’s <a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/21-06-2021-who-supporting-south-african-consortium-to-establish-first-covid-mrna-vaccine-technology-transfer-hub" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">mRNA technology transfer hub</a>.</p><p class=""><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/moderna-plans-mrna-vaccine-factory-africa-2021-10-07/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">Moderna’s</a> and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-rwanda-coronavirus-vaccine-f800599b45c433f09a03bdd625c46ddb" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">BioNTech’s</a>
recent announcements that they will build mRNA manufacturing plants in
Africa do not substitute for more widespread licensing and technology
transfers to capable manufacturers and participation in the mRNA
technology transfer hub. Moderna <a href="https://investors.modernatx.com/news-releases/news-release-details/moderna-build-state-art-mrna-facility-africa-manufacture-500" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">did not specify</a> a location for its plant or when it would be operational. <a href="https://investors.biontech.de/news-releases/news-release-details/biontech-plans-initiate-construction-mrna-vaccine-manufacturing" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">BioNTech</a> stated it will begin construction on facilities in Rwanda and Senegal in mid-2022.</p><p class="">The US government’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/17/us/covid-vaccines-supply.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">plan</a>
to expand domestic vaccine manufacturing in the second half of 2022
reinforces dependence on US production and vaccine donations.</p><p class="">Human Rights Watch <a href="https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/media_2021/12/HRW%20Vaccine%20Letters%20and%20Responses%20%281%29.pdf" class="">wrote</a>
to the three US companies between April and August 2021 with detailed
questions about their policies and practices related to vaccine
availability and affordability. Pfizer replied to two letters from Human
Rights Watch. Moderna replied to the first letter but declined to
respond to a second. J&J did not respond to repeated requests for
information and comment. Human Rights Watch also joined a large group of
civil society organizations and individuals that <a href="https://missingmedicines.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/100-signature-letter-to-CEOs-of-13-vaccine-companies-1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">wrote</a> to these companies in December 2020.</p><p class="">Pfizer said that “only a few facilities in the world are able to
perform the critical steps needed to manufacture mRNA vaccines and the
inputs to produce those vaccines at a large scale.” Pfizer stated that
it “welcomes voluntary initiatives that add to the pool of resources and
options available to promote equitable access to COVID-19 therapies and
vaccines and…remain[s] committed to constructive dialogue with all
parties.”</p><p class="">Moderna said it was “not aware of any idle mRNA manufacturing
capacity” but said it was committed to “pursuing additional partnerships
around the world to expedite production and delivery” of its vaccine. A
recent MSF Access Campaign <a href="https://msfaccess.org/sharing-mrna-vaccine-technologies-save-lives" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">study</a>
found that it took Pfizer and Moderna three to seven months to transfer
technology and begin shipping vaccines from new facilities.</p><p class="">Experts in the issue of vaccine access have been critical of J&J’s <a href="https://accessibsa.org/indian-civil-society-letter-jj/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">restrictive licensing practices</a>, and decision to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/16/business/johnson-johnson-vaccine-africa-exported-europe.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">export</a>
millions of vaccine doses produced in South Africa to Europe. J&J
did not respond to Human Rights Watch’s questions about its policies and
practices.</p><p class="">“The world needs decisive and transformative leadership from the US and German governments now,” said <a href="https://www.hrw.org/about/people/margaret-wurth" class="">Margaret Wurth</a>,
senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. “World leaders have repeatedly
promised solidarity, cooperation with the global community, and a smart
Covid-19 response. They urgently need to deliver.</p><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Arthur Stamoulis<br class="">Citizens Trade Campaign<br class="">(202) 494-8826<br class=""></div><br class=""><br class=""><div class="">
Arthur Stamoulis<br class="">Citizens Trade Campaign<br class="">(202) 494-8826<br class=""><br class=""><br class=""><br class="">
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