Never forget how Oxford wanted to open source their vaccine but the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation stepped in and AstraZeneca got exclusive rights. https://khn.org/news/rather-than-give-away-its-covid-vaccine-oxford-makes-a-deal-with-drugmaker/
Very interesting article about #moral and #money in the #vaccine #business 🤯
Thanks for sharing, @jwildeboer 
@tetrapyloctomist @jwildeboer @ffeth
So I took look at what actually happened, as this sounds like quite a flat story in khn. And indeed, the narrative of good scientists vs. bad pharma + Gates is a bit more nuanced. There apparently was a very good reason for the change of mind on the Oxford side:
* Original source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/23/world/bill-gates-vaccine-coronavirus.html
* Archived version (no paywall): https://archive.is/aQxIT
> Oxford University said it would offer “nonexclusive, royalty-free licenses” of its work to manufacturers. But as it developed one of the most promising vaccine candidates, the university debated whether it was equipped to conduct clinical trials and transfer its technology to manufacturers around the world.
>
> Sir John Bell, who leads the development of Oxford’s health research strategies and chairs the Gates Foundation’s scientific advisory committee, reached out to Dr. Mundel. The advice was direct: “We told Oxford, ‘Hey, you’ve got to find a partner who knows how to run trials,’” Mr. Gates said.
>
> Oxford chose the British-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca. The Serum Institute of India, after getting the financial commitment from Mr. Gates, agreed in the summer to start producing the vaccine.
Note also, according to reports, AstraZeneca committed to do this in a way which won't extract exuberant profits. But indeed, we do not know the details.
@tetrapyloctomist @jwildeboer @ffeth
I am getting back to this older thread about how Oxford wanted to open-source their vaccine and Bill Gates stepped in and then the whole thing went allegedly wrong. It needs some further debunking.
So here is a fragment of an interview with Bill Gates by Derek Muller of Veritasium fame where he specifically asks Bill Gates about this KHN story.
https://youtu.be/Grv1RJkdyqI?t=558
Here you have how the sausage is made on the Intertubes. Somebody comes up with something on Twitter, or wherever, smart (but maybe just gullible?) people take it for granted and there you have a story. It saddens me that even many well educated people who should know better fall for this.
This is of course not a level of a proper conspiracy theory, but just giving it a second thought would raise some red flags. Not that I am smarter, in the past there were exactly such stories I fell for, but recognising how wrong I were made my BS detector much more sensitive.
@ffeth
Yepp. Having more influence due to having/giving money is undemocratic and the definition of corruption. Imo even if the rich have the best intentions - influencing politics and supporting firms/research is always problematic since they choose who and how. And this choice is based on information that is more often then not biased (see WWF nature conservation vs. indigen ppl, fi)
@FailForward @tetrapyloctomist @jwildeboer@social.wildeboer.net
@FailForward Yep this is rational.
Now, while I feel Gates is genuinely trying to make good in this world, I'm pretty sure the ways he takes are problematic.
Also I think he should not go away with corrupting the market and the political institutions of Europe as he did —the interviewers should remind him of this, and they never do.
@tetrapyloctomist @jwildeboer