The “Vaccine Genocide” of Indigenous Nations and Peoples: The Intellectual Property (IP1) Regime, “Vaccine Apartheid” and “Vaccine Untouchables”
Hiroshi Fukurai
Volume 21, Number 2 (2022) 21 (2): 53-67
Keywords intellectual Property, product patents, multinational corporations, COVID-19, disarticulation of production
Abstract
The first section of this essay examines the recent emergence of the “vaccine apartheid” system produced by the collaboration of North Atlantic States’ intellectual property (IP) regime, monopoly capitalism, and powerful international organizations such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) and transnational drug conglomerates. The second section elaborates on the perilous impact of “vaccine apartheid,” including the creation of so-called “vaccine untouchables” composed of indigenous peoples around the globe who have been largely shut off from the medical and scientific benefits of vaccination.The presence of this “disposable” population serves to ensure continually emerging forms of new virus variants, thereby creating a potential market for further vaccine production and the maximization of future corporate profits. The third section explores the possibility of sharing vaccine recipes and developing globalized vaccine production as a viable strategic alternative to the IP regime, thereby leading to the eradication of “vaccine apartheid” and the vilified presence of “vaccine untouchables.” While innovative mRNA vaccines were largely developed by publicly funded research in North Atlantic states, the profit deriving from medical innovations has been privatized through the state-corporate collaboration. This section also examines the efforts by socialist states, including Cuba and others, to develop their own vaccines, make vaccine recipes available, and produce them for a global vaccination effort, involving indigenous peoples around the world. The fourth and final section summarizes strategies to help prevent recurrences of “vaccine genocide” in relation to indigenous peoples. Since nearly 80% of the earth’s biodiversity remains in indigenous homelands, it is vital that states and corporations cultivate close collaborative relations with indigenous peoples around the globe to prevent further destruction of biodiversity and natural ecology, thus eliminating the likelihood of future zoonotic virus pandemics and their deadly consequences.
Hiroshi Fukurai
Published January 1, 2022
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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