ANALYSIS
BY DR. JAIPAL SINGH
Famous American writer and humourist Mark Twain once said – “A lie travels around the globe while the truth is putting on its
shoes.” Sometimes this phrase is ascribed to other authors as well such as Jonathan Swift but here it is the message that it
carries is more important else even Mark Twain was a penname of the author Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835 –1910 CE).
The phrase perfectly fits into role and conduct of the international fame pharmaceutical firms like Pfizer Inc – an American
multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation, which has made billions of dollars through profiteering during the
Covid-19 regime alone in the last three years through the development, marketing and sale of the vaccine at exorbitant cost,
whose use and efficacy itself is now under cloud and questioned by several sane elements from the same developed countries
responsible for its constant promotion. The phrase also equally applies on the perpetrator country largely responsible for
inflicting a dreadful virus on the world, which is now reeling under own misdoings and misgivings unable to contain the surge of
same virus back home despite its boastful vaccines claims and other measures. We shall see here how the US and other
developed nations succumbed while India not only put a bold face to the coercive measures of same pharmaceuticals during its
hours of corona crisis but also came out in flying colours.
PHARMACEUTICALS LIES AND
PROFITEERING SPREE
This author recalls when Covid-19 pandemic began its spread and dance of death globally during early 2020, a few US
pharmaceutical and biotechnology giants such as Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc forged ahead in the race of vaccine development
with global tall claims while few other countries like Russia, China and India relied more on their own indigenous efforts to
independently develop vaccines in collaboration with their indigenous bio-technology firms. With their professional and political
clout, the aforesaid American companies received prompt clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and
World Health Organization (WHO) for their RNA based Covid-19 vaccines which were ready for administration, marketing and
use towards the latter months of the same year. For instance, the lead firm Pfizer Inc had named it Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19
Vaccine suitable for use among the people of sixteen years and older age.
M/S Pfizer Inc claimed that this vaccine met the high standards for safety, effectiveness and manufacturing quality norms
after necessary trials and was absolutely effective in preventing, diagnosing and treating the disease without any significant
health risks. However, the cost of vaccine was kept rather very high almost unaffordable by the less developed and poor
countries and so were the conditions of the marketing and sale to other countries. In fact, this Biopharma giant had come in
news for many controversies since beginning which inter alia included profiteering during the pandemic period, seeking
sovereign indemnity against any damage or loss owing to the use of vaccine from the foreign government, special treatment to
their packaging and pharma officials by the receiving country, pledging of national assets by the governments, unethical
lobbying, and so on. Even the Pfizer CEO was known to have tweeted about cent percent efficacy while it was later found that
the company neither had any concrete data in support to that effect nor the vaccine was as effective as claimed. Much later
even Pfizer conceded that there was not enough data in support of efficacy claim and that the pandemic situation demanded
scientific innovation at war stage.
Similar lies have been planted by the China for the consumption of the world community about the origin of virus, its spread
worldwide and their own measures taken since the outbreak of Covid-19 in that country. The official Chinese progressive tally
of Covid-19 cases since its outbreak over three years back still put China at the 91th rank among the globally affected countries
with the total corona cases 503,302, total deaths 5,272 and active cases 118,977 as on 20th January 2023 (Source:
Worldometer) despite the fact that the entire country is currently reeling under the most severe coronavirus wave. China's
National Health Commission has now reported that 59,938 people died in hospitals as on 12th January 2023 across the country
from 8 December 2022 to 12 January 2023 due to the corona epidemic. On the other hand, experts suggest that the reported
toll may not have included Corona deaths occurred in the nursing homes and at homes, and according to a report of the Beijing
University, about 64 percent Chinese population has already come under the grip of Corona. The notable point is that the
Chinese government has constantly been on denial mode till recently; it's sad that largely the innocent Chinese people have
suffered the nemesis inflicted by their own autocratic regime.
Recently, on the fringes of the World Economic Forum meet at Davos, Switzerland, the Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla faced rough
weather when he was chased by two journalists of the “Rebel News” on 18 January 2023, who asked a series of challenging
questions concerning the efficacy of Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine, but the CEO constantly and evasively dodged all questions, a 6-
minute video of which has now gone viral globally over the social media and internet. Among other things, the journalists asked
questions like why the firm kept the knowledge secret that its vaccine did not stop viral transmission and, on the contrary, the firm
initially claimed that the vaccine was 100 percent effective, then they said 90 percent, followed by claims of 80-70 percent, and so
on. Yet another uncomfortable question shot by the journalist was whether it was now for the Pfizer to repent to the world and
make refunds to the countries having purchased vaccines in the past with no viable results. Needless to mention such queries and
questions are very valid in the light of fact that nearly one-third to fifty percent population of the US and many European Union
countries have already been infected with significant loss of human lives even after continuous use of the vaccines.
Even a pointed question was asked by one journalist for the Pfizer CEO's response as to why the manufacturer hid the fact
that its vaccine did not stop transmission of the virus. But, quite obviously, the CEO did not reply to this query as well other than
simply saying “Thank you very much” and “Have a nice day” while the journalist continued asking, “Are you proud of it? You
made millions of dollars on the backs of people's lives. How does it feel to walk the streets as a millionaire? Are you worried
about myocarditis? What do you have to say about young men dropping dead.” The other journalist even accused CEO
Bourla of making millions on the backs of people's entire livelihoods, “Is it time to apologize to the world, sir? To give refunds to
the countries that borrowed their money into a vaccine that doesn't work. An ineffective vaccine! Are you not ashamed of what
you've done in the last couple of years?” Like the first one, the second journalist too received no response from the Pfizer CEO.
Although many countries did not reveal but it is no more a secret that, among other things, the Pfizer Inc had sought an
indemnity clause to protect it from legal lawsuits if the vaccine had any unwanted effects or it didn't work. According to a detailed
report of CNBC in March 2022 on two US vaccine manufacturers, both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were approved by FDA in
December 2020 and apart from good response in sales received in that year itself (2020) with estimated revenue of US $154
million, Pfizer had sold $36.7 billion (45%) of its Covid vaccine worldwide in 2021 out of its total revenue of $81.2 billion. Further,
according to estimates based on the contractual obligations, the forecast sale for 2023 was about $32 billion with actual amount
likely to increase further. Besides, Pfizer was also aggressively projecting a Covid treatment pill Paxlovid with a projected sale of
$22 billion in 2023. Apart from irregular and unethical practices listed earlier, Pfizer has been also accused of hindering vaccine
equity and lobbying against the temporary lift of intellectual property rights thereby allowing other manufacturers to produce it
during crisis. The firm delivered only 39% of its contractually agreed doses to the COVAX programme in 2021, representing 1.5
percent of all vaccines produced by Pfizer; the most of their sales being targeted to high-income countries of the US and European
Union. (Courtesy:www.boloji.com)
To be continued…
(The Author is a former civil servant and his core areas of specialization have been public administration, finance,
information technology, human resource development, budget and planning, and legal matters)
