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Search for Coronavirus Vaccine Sparks Tensions

VOA News

   WASHINGTON - There are currently no known vaccines for COVID-19 but
   fighting over those that might be produced has begun.

   French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi has denied promising the United
   States priority access to its potential COVID-19 vaccine. French Prime
   Minister Edouard Philippe insisted Thursday that the access to any
   vaccine produced by the French company would be equal for all.

   The remarks came after Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson told Bloomberg News that
   the U.S. government had "the right to the largest preorder because it
   has invested in taking the risk." The French company has plants in the
   United States, but most of them are in Europe.

   Sanofi Chairman Serge Weinberg told France 2 television that "there
   will be no particular advance given to any country."

   In a similar controversy in March, the German public and the government
   reacted angrily to reports that U.S. President Donald Trump had
   allegedly offered German biopharmaceutical company CureVac $1 billion
   to secure the vaccine exclusively for the United States.

   German foreign minister Heiko Maas said at the time that German
   scientists were working to develop a COVID-19 vaccine as part of global
   cooperation.

   "We cannot allow a situation where others want to exclusively acquire
   the results. of their research," Maas said.

   U.S. officials responded that the report had been exaggerated and that
   the U.S. government had talked to a number of pharmaceutical companies
   worldwide that are working on cure for COVID-19. An official said most
   of those companies had received some initial funding from U.S.
   investors.

   French President Emmanuel Macron intervened Thursday and said that a
   potential COVID-19 vaccine should not be subject to market forces and
   that he will address the issue with top Sanofi officials next week.

   A group of 140 current and former world leaders, experts and eminent
   citizens from around the world have published an open letter calling
   for a patent-free vaccine that would be made available at no cost to
   people everywhere.

   The stormy reactions reflect growing displeasure with pharmaceutical
   companies that seek to make a profit from people whose health and even
   whose lives are at stake.

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