Developing countries want patent protections to be temporarily removed for COVID-19 vaccines and drugs. But this will destroy the incentives that made these vaccines possible in the first place. Pharma companies and global institutions have shown that there are other ways to make medicines affordable.
Posts tagged as “COVID-19”
As of 9 March 2021, India has supplied about 60 million doses of vaccine globally. On the other hand, China has supplied only about 12-15 million overseas. And deeper analysis of India's supply of vaccines to different countries shows that New Delhi has been using its vaccine diplomacy very strategically.
Breakdown in communication and trust between the government and citizens resulted in heavy hardship as citizens lost access to basic services. There are lessons to be learnt from Punjab, Kerala and Odisha. We need to build enabling infrastructure that helps communities to act freely to meet their own needs.
During COVID-19, larger centralised rice mills have been shut down due to transportation restrictions and lack of diesel. But smaller decentralised rice mills have been running and keeping farmers alive. There are many lessons for rural development from this experience.
During the COVID-19 lockdown, India saw 680,000 unsafe abortions, sparking demands to promote telemedicine abortions, which would allow doctors to provide consultations and prescribe pills over the telephone or the internet. However, in India, this practice could have its own side-effects.
The anti-vaccine movement across Europe and America has led to sharp increases in vaccine-preventable diseases in recent years. This is particularly alarming, given that the only viable solution to COVID-19 is a potential vaccine. How did American politics turn so radically anti-science?
Millions of people live inside or around remote forests and wildlife reserves. Their close proximity to animal species creates the potential for existing and undiscovered diseases to spread out to the world through them. It is integral that we make efforts to address the needs of these communities.