Uphold the Rights of All!
Big Pharma Extorts Money from the Public Purse
Sanofi S.A., a global pharmaceutical cartel refuses to distribute its Fluzone High-Dose vaccine in BC. The drug company declares it only makes the vaccine available at the beginning of the flu season to jurisdictions in Canada that have some form of public pharmacare coverage of the drug. Sanofi says it will only supply the drug to BC later in December.
“As BC does not have a high-dose public program in place, we only supply limited volumes of flu vaccine to the private market in that province,” Sanofi states. CBC News reports that all the pharmacies it contacted in BC have not received any Fluzone and were uncertain when they would receive it for public or private sale.
Sanofi says “it prioritizes delivery of vaccines to provinces and territories that publicly cover the vaccine, including Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.” Ontario is the only province that offers the vaccine free to all seniors while the other provinces and territories mentioned distribute free doses only to people living in long-term care.
Sanofi has made availability of its flu vaccine a form of extortion to force a pay-the-rich scheme from governments to buy its drug for free distribution, thus guaranteeing a large market. Public pharmacare is associated with the right of all to health care at the highest possible level. Big pharma is determined to turn this right and social program into a pay-the-rich scheme to benefit the narrow private interests of the global pharmaceutical oligopolies to serve their aim of maximum profit for the rich.
BC pharmacies generally charge $75 for one application of the Sanofi Fluzone High-Dose vaccine. As is standard practice, the drug cartel issues no reliable data concerning the price of production of the drug so that the market price of $75 can be evaluated.
Health Canada approved the High-Dose vaccine in 2015 for use in people aged 65 and older. It contains four times the antigen of a standard flu vaccine and produces a stronger immune response in seniors, who are vulnerable to the flu because of their weaker immune systems. According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, adults 65 and older accounted for up to 90 per cent of seasonal flu-related deaths in recent years, and up to 70 per cent of seasonal flu-related hospitalizations.
Canadians are reflecting on this situation where the global financial oligarchy uses a crucial modern social program such as public pharmacare to extort money from the public treasury. What new direction for the economy is necessary to deal with this problem? How can Canadians gain control over the pharmaceutical industry and indeed all the various aspects of the health care sector? Suggestions range from a public wholesale authority controlling the sale, price and availability of pharmaceuticals to all Canadians that need them, to the development of a public pharmaceutical industry whose aim is not to maximize profit for the rich but to make a significant contribution in fulfilling the right of all to health care at the highest possible level.
A new direction begins now with the organizing and struggle of the people for political empowerment. Take a stand for your empowerment and control of those affairs that affect your life such as health care!
Empower Yourself Now!
Vote ML!
Note
Sanofi S.A. is a global pharmaceutical cartel with deep roots in the European financial oligarchy, including with the oligarchs in control of the French oil and gas oligopoly Total S.A., the German pharmaceutical oligopoly Bayer, and the now defunct IG Farben notorious for war crimes during the murderous rule of the German Nazis. Sanofi currently employs 110,000 workers globally who produce annual realized gross sales of $50 billion.
This article was published in:
Renewal Update No. 33, October 13, 2019
Article Link:
Big Pharma Extorts Money from the Public Purse
