Big pharmaceutical companies “bullied” South Africa into signing unfair agreements that forced the country to overpay for COVID-19 vaccines compared with Western nations, according to a nonprofit that lobbied for the details to be released. The details were revealed on Tuesday in an analysis by the Health Justice Initiative (HJI), a South African NGO campaigning against public health inequality after it won a court bid last month to get the government to release its contracts. The analysis of the documents also showed unfair practices by the Serum Institute of India – which charged South Africa 2.5 times more for a generic version of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine than the United Kingdom – and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (Gavi), which is meant to improve equitable access to vaccines. Gavi gave no guarantees to South Africa about the number of doses it would receive, or the delivery date, HJI said, but South Africa remained liable to pay for everything it ordered – even after it had to order more doses directly from pharmaceutical companies when Gavi failed to deliver.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA
