We’ve been offered free Covid tests and free Covid vaccines. The real secret is that neither has been really “free.” The government has been purchasing the vaccines or our use. We pay for the vaccines through our taxes, just like we pay for roads and bridges. The idea behind this is that we are a commonwealth, a place where all can share in the benefits that our common bonds can offer.
Big Pharma, of course, is getting paid, and none of us know just how much because the contracts and agreements made by Pfizer and Moderna are sealed. However, some terms are coming to light. In a report by Public Citizen, it seems clear that Pfizer has been able to negotiate agreements very much to its advantage.
Questions are being raised about restoring some balance in these contracts. True, it costs lots of money to develop a new vaccine, especially with the concentrated effort given to combating Covid. How to restore control and balance is not just a monetary question, it is an ethical one.
Prayer for the Day
Fearful, we come to you, O God, asking for wisdom,
For we know illness increases with the winter;
Concerned, we wonder how best to protect ourselves
As we know we must protect others as well.
Open our minds to your wisdom, O Holy One,
So we make determinations that benefit all your children.
In the name of the One who heals all,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Everything now is for sale. Even those areas we once considered sacred like health and education, food and water and air and seeds and genes and a heritage. It is now all for sale.
Maude Barlow, Canadian community activist
If access to health care is considered a human right, who is human enough to have that right?
Paul Farmer, M.D., American medical anthropologist and activist
O Lord, who may abide in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy hill?
Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right, and speak the truth from their heart
Psalm 15: 1