D&D and the rising pandemic

[Umbran]

Moderna has been using their vaccine out of the hands of poor countries in order to make more money.

Did anyone expect differently?

Moderna is not a big-time pharma company - prior to the covid vaccine, they were a research shop developing the mRNA technology. The covid vaccine is their first, and still only, commercial product, and its revenue will dry up when the pandemic recedes. They have an opportunity at a year or two of windfall^*, and will try to maximize that opportunity.


*In this case, windfall on the order of 6000% increase in revenue year-over year. They were not a billion-dollar revenue company before the vaccine.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I don't have a problem with it if they put a lot of it back into their research and not just split it up among their top 5 shareholders. (I'm not so anti-capitalist that I mind them sharing some of it among themselves, but I object to all (or even most) of it.)

I have no problem with people getting rich, but I draw the line before it gets to uber-rich.

 

[Deset Gled]

Moderna has been using their vaccine out of the hands of poor countries in order to make more money.

...

About 1 million doses of Moderna’s vaccine have gone to countries that the World Bank classifies as low income. By contrast, 8.4 million Pfizer doses and about 25 million single-shot Johnson & Johnson doses have gone to those countries.

Don't most low-income countries prefer the J&J version because it only requires one dose? In many areas of the world (including parts of the US), a second visit with a doctor is a major barrier to vaccination.

I'm not saying if other claims about Moderna are or aren't true. Just that one set of numbers doesn't tell the whole story.

 

[Maxperson]

Don't most low-income countries prefer the J&J version because it only requires one dose? In many areas of the world (including parts of the US), a second visit with a doctor is a major barrier to vaccination.

I'm not saying if other claims about Moderna are or aren't true. Just that one set of numbers doesn't tell the whole story.

That's probably true, which would explain why Johnson & Johnson has delivered 3x more doses to those countries than Pfizer has. Pfizer, though, wasn't called out. Probably because it has 8x the doses delivered to poor countries that Moderna has. Moderna has delived 1 million, Pfizer 8.something million and Johnson & Johnson 25 million.

 

[Garthanos]

Don't most low-income countries prefer the J&J version because it only requires one dose? In many areas of the world (including parts of the US), a second visit with a doctor is a major barrier to vaccination.

It is looking like its significantly better to subsequently get a pfizer/moderna shot after getting the J&J one I read.

I'm not saying if other claims about Moderna are or aren't true. Just that one set of numbers doesn't tell the whole story.

 

[Garthanos]

My state is pretty bad. Our vaccination rate is around 56% of eligible people. Our infection rate has been 10%. It's the worst we've ever been, but at least it's plateauing.

Our vacc rate in my county of eligible age 12 plus is higher than 70%

I should be eligible for the booster shot sometime soon I hope

 

[niklinna]

It is looking like its significantly better to subsequently get a pfizer/moderna shot after getting the J&J one I read.

Where did you read that? I already got moderna though...dunno if getting a J&J after that would be helpful.

 

[Garthanos]

Where did you read that? I already got moderna though...dunno if getting a J&J after that would be helpful.

This is one place I think ... I may have seen it somewhere else originally.

J&J Covid vaccine recipients can get supplemental Pfizer or Moderna dose in San Francisco

J&J recipients can make a special request to get a "supplemental dose" of an mRNA vaccine, San Francisco health officials said Tuesday in a statement to CNBC.

www.cnbc.com

 

[niklinna]

This is one place I think ... I may have seen it somewhere else originally.

J&J Covid vaccine recipients can get supplemental Pfizer or Moderna dose in San Francisco

J&J recipients can make a special request to get a "supplemental dose" of an mRNA vaccine, San Francisco health officials said Tuesday in a statement to CNBC.

www.cnbc.com

Huh. I would have expected a follow-on of Moderna/Pfizer to be the full two-dose protocol. Curious. In any case, not a study of efficacy, just lots of people wanting to do this.

 

[Eltab]

Don't most low-income countries prefer the J&J version because it only requires one dose? In many areas of the world (including parts of the US), a second visit with a doctor is a major barrier to vaccination.

IIRC, J&J requires only normal freezing temperatures, not a super-deep freeze. If it can be preserved and effective in a level of cold that can be supplied by packing in dry ice, that is a leg up for distribution to places where electricity (and freezers) are scarce.