Opinion: To learn lessons from pandemics, don’t listen to big pharma
Early in the Covid-19 pandemic, the leaders of wealthy countries pledged to respond with “global solidarity.” But when vaccines to prevent the disease were developed, those same leaders pushed low and middle-income countries to the back of the queue, outbidding poorer countries, as well as COVAX, a worldwide initiative developed to achieve equitable vaccine access, to secure vaccines for themselves.
That came as little surprise to those of us involved in the fight against the pandemic of HIV and AIDS. When governments of high-income countries belatedly responded to the threat, they sided with pharmaceutical companies that were extracting profits from a global health crisis. Millions died then — and continue to die today — without affordable access to HIV/AIDS treatments.
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