{"id":20935,"date":"2021-12-31T13:37:21","date_gmt":"2021-12-31T21:37:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=20935"},"modified":"2021-12-31T13:37:22","modified_gmt":"2021-12-31T21:37:22","slug":"texas-team-applauded-for-giving-what-big-pharma-refuses-a-patent-free-vaccine-to-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2021\/12\/31\/texas-team-applauded-for-giving-what-big-pharma-refuses-a-patent-free-vaccine-to-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Team Applauded for Giving What Big Pharma Refuses: A Patent-Free Vaccine to the World"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Hotez<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Texas researchers Maria Elena Bottazzi and Peter Hotez led development of the Cobervax patent-free Covid-19 vaccine. (Photo: Texas Medical Center)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We’re not trying to make money. We just want to see people get vaccinated.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

BRETT WILKINS<\/a> December 30, 2021 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A small team of<\/strong> Texas researchers is being hailed for developing an unpatented Covid-19 vaccine to share with the world without personal profit, with some advocates asking, if they can do it, why can’t Big Pharma?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If we had even a fraction of the support that Moderna had, who knows, maybe the world would be vaccinated by now.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dubbed<\/a> “the World’s Covid vaccine,” the inoculation\u2014formally called Cobervax\u2014is an open-source alternative to Big Pharma’s patent-protected vaccines. Instead of being produced for profit, this shot could ultimately be manufactured around the world and made cheaply available to all without governmental or private legal retribution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Common Dreams<\/em> reported<\/a> this week that Cobervax\u2014developed jointly by Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston’s Baylor College, and the Indian pharmaceutical company Biological E. Limited\u2014was authorized<\/a> for emergency use in India amid a surge in infections driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant. Texas Children’s Hospital says<\/a> the new vaccine is at least 90% effective against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and 80% or more effective against its Delta variant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We’re not trying to make money,” Peter Hotez, who led the Texas Children’s Hospital team, told<\/a> The Washington Post<\/em>. “We just want to see people get vaccinated.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n