Moderna Will Allow Poor Countries to Use Its Vaccine Technology Without Threat of Lawsuit. Is That Enough to Help Them Weather the Pandemic?
The U.S. may be moving on from the pandemic—but as long as the virus continues to spread around the world, it remains a threat everywhere. Were a new, more deadly variant to arise, the U.S. and other wealthy countries might be prepared to limit its impact, but poorer countries could be devastated. Vaccine inequities stand in the way of a global recovery, and manufacturers are feeling the pressure to make their life-saving technologies more accessible to low- and middle-income countries.
“We're seeing companies under more pressure to bridge those gaps by sharing their technology or building manufacturing plants in underserved regions—basically, becoming more focused on global goals of containing outbreaks than on their financial bottom line,” says my colleague, Alice Park. She wrote about Moderna—the latest company to cave to this pressure—and its announcement this week that it will never enforce the patent on its COVID-19 vaccine in 92 low- and middle-income countries that receive doses from COVAX, the global vaccine distribution project. Moderna also said it will work with local researchers and vaccine manufacturers in these countries to share its knowledge about mRNA vaccines—both against SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens.
Though global health experts appreciate the move, several scientists told Alice it’s too little, too late. Locally produced COVID-19 vaccines won’t be available for years because, while countries have already produced their own versions based on Moderna’s recipe, until now, they only had the ingredients, not the instructions. That means the locally made shots are not identical to the Moderna shot—which in turn means companies will have to conduct their own tests and regional health agencies will have to decide whether each one is safe and effective.
There are efforts worldwide to democratize the knowledge powering COVID-19 vaccines, treatments, and technologies. But so far, they have not gained much traction. For two years, several countries have been trying to persuade the World Trade Organization to issue a waiver of patents and other intellectual property rights for COVID-19 medical products to make it easier for some countries to manufacture vaccines—but at a meeting of the World Trade Organization in Geneva yesterday, the effort failed to go anywhere, reports STAT journalist Ed Silverman.
For now, it’s mostly up to companies like Moderna to decide how much of their technological know-how to share, even during a pandemic. “If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it's that companies that make vaccines and therapies have a role to play in containing pandemics, as governments and health organizations like the World Health Organization do,” Alice says. “Their decision to step in and share their technology could change the course of how long and how severe outbreaks are in the future.”
More than 451.5 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 12 a.m. E.T. today, and over 6 million people have died. On March 9, there were more than 1.8 million new cases and 7,367 new deaths confirmed globally.
Here's how the world as a whole is currently trending, in terms of cases:
And in terms of deaths:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
And here's every country that has reported over 6 million cases:
The U.S. had recorded more than 79.4 million coronavirus cases as of 12 a.m. E.T. today. More than 963,000 people have died. On March 9, there were 37,595 new cases and 1,976 new deaths confirmed in the U.S.
Here's how the country as a whole is currently trending in terms of cases:
And in terms of deaths:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of Mar. 10, 12 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
President Joe Biden's new plan for combating COVID-19 faces an uphill battle after Democrats in Congress removed a $15.6 billion pandemic aid package from the federal spending bill yesterday out of fear that keeping it in would mean it wouldn’t pass, the New York Timesreports. Republicans are refusing to support new spending for the pandemic, which currently leaves few options for funding the president's plan to increase treatment supplies and testing capacity.
The U.S. government will extend the mask mandate on airplanes and other types of public transportation until April 18, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Transportation Security Administration announcedtoday. “During that time, CDC will work with government agencies to help inform a revised policy framework for when, and under what circumstances, masks should be required in the public transportation corridor,” the CDC wrote in a statement. The current mandate was set to expire on March 18. Numerous studies have found that masks can help reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission on planes.
Ontario will drop its universal mask mandate on March 21, the New York Timesreports. The move comes after truckers recently occupied Ottawa, which is in Ontario, for weeks in protest of Canada’s pandemic restrictions. Health officials in the province said yesterday that they were ending the mask mandate because cases had remained stable or even declined in some areas since other restrictions—including a vaccine requirement and capacity limits for local businesses—had been lifted earlier this month.
Tennis star Novak Djokovic said yesterday that he won't be allowed to compete at tennis tournaments in Indian Wells, California, and Miami because he is unvaccinated and not permitted to travel to the U.S., the Associated Press reports. He said last month that he would not get vaccinated even to participate in the highest profile matches, such as Wimbledon or the French Open. In January, Djokovic was sent home from Australia after violating travel vaccination requirements by flying there for a tournament.
Thanks for reading. We hope you find the Coronavirus Brief newsletter to be a helpful tool to navigate this very complex situation, and welcome feedback at coronavirus.brief@time.com. If you have specific questions you'd like us to answer, please send them to covidquestions@time.com.
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Today's newsletter was written Mandy Oaklander and edited by Elijah Wolfson.
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