htmlOn May 5th, the U.S. government announced that it will temporarily exempt the intellectual property protection of the new crown vaccine , which means that the patent rights may be temporarily opened, and other countries will not be held responsible for plagiarizing and imitating the American vaccine. As soon as the statement about establishing a glorious image for itself in the fight against the epidemic came out, a reporter immediately asked the Chinese side at the regular press conference of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on May 6, whether China would also consider giving up intellectual property protection for the new crown vaccine?
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin said that China is concerned about this issue and supports all parties to actively discuss it within the framework of WTO to strive for an effective solution. China is willing to promote the availability of vaccines in more developing countries and Affordability makes its own contribution. In fact, when the reporter asked this question, it is obviously to imply that China should follow the US and shoulder more international responsibilities. In essence, the above-mentioned questioning method is actually a blatant moral kidnapping question.
First of all, it is important to know that the research and development cost of new coronary pneumonia vaccine is quite high, and it is not a major country in the biopharmaceutical and economic fields that does not have research and development capabilities at all, and the research and development cycle is very long. The research and development investment in the process of test screening and experimental validity is a huge amount. In this case, it is necessary to ensure that there is a certain profit margin for vaccine research and development in order to maintain the development of the industry.
Although China currently classifies the COVID-19 vaccine as vaccine , that is, free vaccination of for all, but not all donated to in terms of international aid , this shows that while China undertakes international responsibilities, it also Fully consider the issue of research and development costs. Therefore, China's abandonment of intellectual property protection is equivalent to completely abandoning the cost of R&D investment.It should be noted that in a series of capitalist countries, including the United States, vaccination against the new crown is not free. This is not only because the capitalists behind their governments have considered the cost of research and development, but also how to use vaccines to make a lot of money in the country.
Secondly, pay attention to the way the reporter asks questions. It is asking whether China is considering "giving up" vaccine patents. If I remember correctly, the United States is only temporarily exempting the intellectual property protection of the new crown vaccine. The funny thing is that it has become a waiver when it comes to China. Moreover, the temporary abandonment of the United States is not a decision made by the Biden administration itself, but its decision to support the WTO's decision to exempt the intellectual property protection of the new crown vaccine. After all, the United States is not regardless of the cost.
In addition, as soon as this decision was released, the stock price of the biopharmaceutical industry in the United States fell sharply, which has already caused strong opposition from many pharmaceutical companies. In addition, and German also strongly opposed it. Biden does not know whether he can be firm in this move. Going down, in short, rushing into moral kidnapping to force China to follow in the footsteps of the United States is simply digging a hole.
In the end, whether or not it joins the ranks of temporarily exempting patents like the US, China has already contributed a lot to the world's fight against the epidemic. As the first country to return to normal due to the new crown epidemic, China did not rest on its laurels, but immediately dispatched medical assistance teams to countries with severe epidemics within its capacity, rushed vaccines to dozens of countries around the world, and strongly supported WHO 's new crown traceability work has contributed a lot of precious information to the fight against the epidemic.
In the past few days, China has ignored its previous suspicions and exported thousands of oxygen concentrators and other medical equipment to , India , which is deeply affected by the epidemic, and related domestic enterprises are still working overtime to produce. This is China fulfilling its responsibilities as a big country and promoting humanitarianism We sincerely hope that the whole world can survive the epidemic.
On the other hand, what about , Europe and the United States, , which has always occupied the hot spot and commanding heights of moral public opinion? Not only has its own domestic anti-epidemic work is poor, which has put pressure on neighboring countries, but it has also made various stumbles in the production and assistance of vaccines and other medical materials. , and then to the United States’ refusal to provide India with vaccine raw materials, some developed countries have engaged in “vaccine nationalism”, tightened restrictions on vaccine exports, and tried to monopolize supply. With such selfishness and small actions, who is qualified to tell China to participate in the global fight against the epidemic?
Therefore, this kind of question is not a question of wanting to know China's views. Nine times out of ten, it is deliberately manipulated by some behind-the-scenes forces, just to force China to give up the patent rights of vaccines, so that they can also legally obtain Chinese vaccines. Production channels, after all, only China's vaccines have the longest R&D cycle, the largest population of vaccinations, and the most comprehensive and best comprehensive effects. You must know that in addition to China, among the several pharmaceutical companies that are the pillars of the Western anti-epidemic, the Ruihui vaccine is very unreliable, and even requires a third injection, while the AstraZeneca vaccine has the risk of causing blood clots.
In addition, WHO experts who have had no results before have evaluated two vaccines produced in China, and the results show that they are highly confident in these two vaccines, and EU , European Medicines Agency Quietly began to review the Chinese vaccine, apparently a precursor to the intention to introduce it. Contacting these clues, it can probably be inferred that the EU may be afraid that under the current tension between the two sides, it will have to bow to China for vaccines in the future, so it does this to insure itself in advance, and what’s more, it wants to learn from India. Continue to respond to the US's suppression of China while holding Chinese aid.
Therefore, China should not take its position on the patent issue of the new crown vaccine lightly, and must always firmly adhere to the "first attribute" of vaccine products, continuously improve the accessibility and affordability of vaccines in developing countries, and practice with concrete actions To implement the concept of vaccine public products, in addition, if Western countries want to get China's support in vaccine cooperation, they should make real contributions to the global fight against the epidemic, do more practical things, and stop using these crooked ways to set rules for other countries and for themselves. for profit.
