Zain Rizvi of Public Citizen talks about the legal battle between Moderna and Pfizer over patents on mRNA technology. He also addresses the question of access to this vital technology that is used to make COVID-19 vaccines and other medical products

Dozens of scientists, health activists, and health officers in the EU are gathering support for building public capacities for pharmaceutical production and breaking ties with industry

Moderna’s filing for patents in South Africa puts a question mark on its intentions of honoring the pledge that it will not enforce patents during the pandemic. Activists fear that this may jeopardize the WHO’s technology sharing hub

The deliberate policy of big pharma and rich countries to leave large populations in poorer countries unvaccinated could plunge the world into another downturn

G7 countries will have 1.2 billion vaccines available for donation by the end of 2021 even after maintaining booster shot campaigns for all adults

Public outcry in South Africa helped force Johnson & Johnson to retain the vaccines produced in the country for domestic use instead of being shipped to Europe. The Indian civil society has initiated a similar effort as the Global South looks for alternatives

The COVID-19 pandemic has again exposed the true nature of capitalism with profit being the primary driver irrespective of the rising inequalities

As of now, the total unvaccinated population in the world numbers 6.8 billion. The one billion doses promised by the G-7 countries can meet the needs of only 7.4% of this number

With its development of five COVID-19 vaccines and the promise of sharing know-how with developing countries, Cuba has remained faithful to Che Guevara’s values of international solidarity and people-oriented medicine

In violation of its obligations and responsibilities as an occupying power, Israel has taken little effort in vaccinating Palestinians, leading to very poor vaccination rates in the occupied territories and the general deterioration of health facilities

A new research shows that even a small quantity of the neutralising antibodies indicates a strong efficacy of the vaccine

Immunologist Dr. Satyajit Rath and Newsclick’s Prabir Purkayastha talk about the recent debates on the intellectual property rights on vaccines and the possibilities of mass immunization