Thought of the Day - May 11 2021 - Vaccine Wars

The big news in the past two weeks, that we have already touched on in other articles is the discussion on vaccine patent waivers ( Thought of the Day - May 6 2021 - It's a Start ). The US has lent their support to suspending patent rights provided other countries follow suit. However, the main players in the EU are against the idea. Canada, which has also been opposed, has not yet issued any statement saying we have changed our view. This will be an ongoing discussion for months to come.

Vaccine Approvals:

Here is the latest list of vaccines now approved around the world.

• Russia has just registered a single-dose vaccine;

• Hot off the press: Ontario, amid eight reported blood-clot cases, just halted the administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Vaccine Administration Issues:

• The administration of the COVID vaccines is exposing serious systems issues in vaccine administration databases. For example, Bonnie Henry was called to task about the messages that come in from the BC registration system inviting citizens to book their first shot even though they have already had it;

• Many Canadian "snowbirds" and cross-border essential workers have chosen to pay for vaccination in the US. With dwindling domestic demand, US clinics are more than happy to sign you up. That said, there is no information on how a Canadian can register the fact they have received vaccinations outside of Canada. Jarbeau was quoted as saying as PHAC’s data is based on the provincial and territorial databases, “the agency is not able to track” vaccines obtained by Canadians in the U.S., or other countries. This will surely lead to confusion down the road.

Vaccine Fraud:

• With the hope of getting a second shot still months away for most, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre is warning people to avoid purchasing vaccines online or from unauthorized sources. Scammers are looking to gain access to sensitive personal and financial information. Vaccines in Canada have no direct user fee. Yet earlier this year the city of Hamilton had to put out a warning that it was not charging residents to be first in line to be vaccinated. There is also another scheme that claims if you donate to charity you can move to the front of the line. The Canadians Anti-Fraud Centre estimates that Canadians have been defrauded out of 7.2 million dollars related to COVID-19 scams;

• These issues pale in comparison to stories about counterfeit versions of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine identified last month in Mexico and Poland. It turned out a cosmetic product was inside the vials of the fake vaccine in Poland.

Vaccine Supplier Stocks:

• Moderna's stock is worth 2 1/2 times what it was a year ago;

• BioNTech, the technology holder, has more than tripled in the past year;

• Novavax, despite a slide a couple of weeks ago, is now worth six times what it was twelve months ago. It is still a strong buy as it will climb again once they start applying for approvals indicating they are ready for production;

• J&J should be a loser, but it is a diversified company and as they were later to market they ducked some of the bad side-effects press that affected AstraZeneca;

• Although it has rebounded as of late, AstraZeneca, due to its PR disasters, has shown almost no gains over the past year. Despite the delivery of over 50 million vaccines to the EU they are again being sued, for a second time, even though the first lawsuit still pending.

Cheers

Cliff