"You can't patent the sun"

There's lots of debate and controversy over the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. Type in a search engine those exact phrases and you'll get article after article detailing how it came to be. The fact of the matter right now is that we're having to live with it. I've been a news reporter for the past year and my job has been to detail and write how the pandemic has affected the everyday, average American. Mom and pop shops, schools, doctors, college students. I've even covered the Governor giving out free McDonald's coupons to people who get the COVID-19 vaccine shot. Yes, that really did happen in the state of North Carolina.

Now, the purpose of this article isn't to spout conspiracy theories, but rather shout out some actionable solutions through policy or advocacy. As much fighting as there is about the vaccine and boosters, let me tell you something people should actually be mad about, let's take you back to old school journalism, not the minute thirty media frenzy that's hitting our screens.

Let's back up. Moderna and Pfizer received federal funds to create COVID-19 vaccine candidates. Those federal funds came from your tax dollars. Now, the COVID vaccine is free, right? Yeah, in the U.S. because the federal government PURCHASED them from Big Pharma (yes, those companies are Pharma) using your tax dollars. Okay, that's not necessarily foul, it's just a strategic decision. But let's talk about the rest of the world. Other countries also have to purchase vaccines, Big Pharma companies aren't just going to hand those out for free. Now here's the issue. What if countries can't afford to buy those vaccines? Well, surely Moderna and Pfizer can at least release their patent rights, making it available for individual countries to test out and release their own vaccines. But, they're not going to. Now, last century a similar discussion played out. The polio vaccine changed and save the lives of millions of people. Jonas Salk had the option of patenting the vaccine, possibly making millions from it. When Edward Murrow asked Salk why he didn't, he replied, "Would you patent the sun?"

Now, years later we have an even deadlier disease and yet, pharma companies aren't releasing their patents. There's been many lessons our entire world has learned via this pandemic. We should have funded mass testing for COVID, the government shouldn't have lied to the American people at the beginning of the pandemic about not needing masks, then reversing that same sentiment and then enforcing mask mandates. But, the truth is we're still in this pandemic. And the way to stop the pandemic, per the scientific community, are the vaccines. Officials are warning people about the Omnicron variant, reportedly originating in South Africa. African countries have the lowest rate of vaccines. Some countries are even trying to reverse engineer the COVID vaccine in order to distribute it to their own populations.

There's been a divide in politics and the people for years now. As someone reporting from via a third party, trying to be as objective as possible, I've noticed a disconnect. Politicians simply aren't listening to people. They're listening to sound boards or communication experts who are also disconnected from everyday society, as the majority of them grew up and were educated in elite institutions. Big Pharma is under a lot of flack, rightfully so because of their role in fueling the opioid epidemic, killing lives and destroying families. Now, here's another way that these companies' greed is tearing apart lives. And politicians are trying to play middle men, appeasing some and not others while trying to not lose any funding for their political campaigns.

Now, this was a very down and dirty article - there better people that can better articulate what's happening in government, but as someone from outside of any playing fields at the moment, I just had to call it like I see it.