In Texas, scientists have developed an open-source Covid vaccine with the aim of reducing inequalities between countries in the face of the pandemic. Much less expensive than other products available on the market, this vaccine would have been "shunned", especially by the US government, despite the efforts of researchers.
In September 2021, Amnesty International published an instructive report on global access to Covid-19 vaccines. According to the NGO, this same access would be monopolized by rich countries with the complicity of the various pharmaceutical companies. Some particularly affected countries such as South Africa and India had demanded more equity , but Western countries have not reached an agreement to allow the patents that protect the various vaccines against the coronavirus to be lifted.
However, these patents precisely represent a hindrance in this quest for fairness , especially since the latest Delta and Omicron variants, which are particularly virulent, have appeared in South Africa and India. As NPR explains in an article from January 5, 2022, a team of researchers from Texas wants to remedy the current situation. They therefore developed an open source vaccine taking the name of Corbevax. The goal? Allow the poorest countries to manufacture their own doses for an affordable cost. These researchers from Texas Children's Hospital did not ask for anything in return for their work.
According to a statement dated December 28, 2021, the Indian government has adopted an emergency procedure to license the production of Corbevax through local biotech company Biological E. Limited. This procedure follows promising early clinical trials. The doses of Corbevax will be marketed at a price ten times cheaper than vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer. Nevertheless, this slight success does not hide the sad reality. Indeed, the United States and other rich countries have shunned Texas research.
Peter Hotez, one of the scientists behind the project claimed to have sent requests to all levels of government in the USA. In the end, the overwhelming majority remained unanswered. The expert also claimed that while the federal state ultimately helped fund the vaccine, Texas vodka brand Tito's contributed to a much larger extent through its philanthropic arm. There was also talk of contacts with the Bill-and-Melinda-Gates Foundation, without success. In 2020, representatives of this foundation had even advised researchers to sell the rights from Corbevax to the AstraZeneca group.
