A COVID-19 vaccine cannot exclude communities of color

Our health care system is broken because it prioritizes wealth over health. Big Pharma's rigged monopolies are a perfect representation of these distorted priorities.

Tell Congress: "Any and all vaccines and treatments for COVID-19 developed by drug corporations using taxpayer money must be accessible and affordable to everyone, regardless of ability to pay. Pass the Make Medication Affordable by Preventing Pandemic Pricegouging Act (H.R. 7296) and the Taxpayer Research and Coronavirus Knowledge Act (H.R. 7288) to prohibit monopolies on new, taxpayer-funded COVID-19 drugs!" ADD YOUR VOICE Our health care system is broken because it prioritizes wealth over health. Big Pharma's rigged monopolies are a perfect representation of these distorted priorities. Even though drug companies depend on public taxpayer money to develop new treatments, Americans still effectively pay twice for treatments: People in this country bear the burden of both paying for research with their tax dollars, and then facing extreme price-gouging when they struggle to afford their medications. Drug corporations have already been allocated billions of dollars of taxpayer money to discover and develop production of a COVID-19 vaccine and other COVID-19 drugs. But they still won't guarantee that these discoveries will be made equally available to all, regardless of ability to pay. A desperately-needed vaccine could well be out of reach of the people who need it the most. SIGN NOW: The COVID vaccine must be affordable and accessible to all! This pandemic has laid bare the inequalities felt by communities of color. Marginalized Americans are suffering the most from Big Pharma's license to extort patients, and communities of color have been hardest hit by the pandemic and accompanying recession. An unaffordable COVID-19 vaccine could shut them out entirely. Fortunately, Representatives Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) have introduced two bipartisan bills that would prevent price-gouging, prohibit monopolies, and ensure Americans know whether Donald Trump is protecting the public interest in supporting COVID-19 drug development with taxpayer investments. ADD YOUR NAME: Don't let Donald Trump give Pharma a pandemic payday! These new bipartisan bills would prohibit pharmaceutical monopolies and price gouging on new, taxpayer-funded COVID-19 drugs; ensure universal access to and mandate reasonable, affordable pricing of COVID-19 drugs; and enable American taxpayers to track their investments in the creation of COVID-19 drugs, including tax breaks for drug companies and taxpayer-funded research and development to find a treatment or vaccine. Black Americans have died from COVID-19 at twice the rate of any other racial group. Two-thirds of Latinx households have lost jobs or wages due to the pandemic recession. The Navajo Nation has the highest per capita infection rate in the nation. Tens of millions of people living in sub-Saharan Africa lost their lives from AIDS due to monopolies given to drug corporations, which prioritized Big Pharma profits over the lives of Black and brown people across the globe. Giving corporations monopoly control over a COVID-19 vaccine would risk repeating that mistake, and put the lives of billions of people in the global south at risk. We demand that a future COVID-19 vaccine be made available to everyone, regardless of ability to pay. And it's critical that we lock that in NOW, before it's too late! Tell Congress: Any COVID-19 vaccine should be available to everyone! Thanks, Alex Lawson Drug Prices Are Too High DONATE NOW Sent via ActionNetwork.org. To update your email address, change your name or address, or to stop receiving emails from Drug Prices are Too High, please click here.