NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Large sums of public money intended to ensure children in the developing world are immunized against disease are effectively being used to subsidize Big Pharma, doctors working in the field claim.

Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), the Nobel prize-winning organization working on the frontline in remote and conflict areas, says vaccines bought with UK and other donor governments’ money cost too much and are not designed for the needs of hot and impoverished countries. When the pot of money subsidizing the high prices of western pharmaceutical companies runs out, developing world governments will not be able to afford the vaccines and children will continue to lose their lives, MSF says.