WHO: BioNTech, Pfizer, Moderna should do more for technology transfer

Jul 2, 2021

© Marcus Brandt/dpa

Geneva (dpa) - The chief of the World Health Organization (WHO) has called on BioNTech, Pfizer and Moderna to increase their efforts in order to boost the production of vaccines against Covid-19 around the world.

"I urge those companies like BioNTech, Pfizer and Moderna to share their know-how so that we can speed up the development of new production sites," WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday in Geneva.

"New manufacturing hubs including for mRNA vaccines are developed but this could be accelerated by companies openly sharing technology and know-how," he said.

His comments come as countries debate whether and how to make access to vaccines more equitable, with some calling for patents to be waived while others favour technology transfer.

Poorer countries do not have enough vaccines to inoculate 10 per cent of their populations by the end of September, while wealthy countries are much further ahead, Tedros said.

While governments in these countries are now donating vaccine doses, this is only a drop in the ocean, he said.

Tedros also warned of the dangers of the Delta variant of the coronavirus, which is more transmissible.

"We are in a very dangerous period of this pandemic, no country on Earth is out of the woods yet," he said.

The virus is able to mutate in many places where there is a shortage of vaccines, he said.

The Delta variant is now present in at least 98 countries, according to the WHO'S data