In a declaration made on 08 November, CEO Albert Bourla of Pfizer forecast that this conglomerate (which is largely owned by multi-trillion dollar North American hedge funds) will continue amassing huge profits from the manufacture of Covid-19 vaccines for at least another ten years. He forecast that government contracts for the supply of vaccines which can be distributed fairly and cheaply to the public will soon cease following which the “shots” will be sold only to the private healthcare market at a cost of at least USD100 per dose as opposed to USD40 charged to governments. As each dose costs less than USD2.00 to produce and the private services are largely owned by the same private equity and hedge funds, it seems that private patients and possibly their insurers will be the involuntary source of this continuing wealth .

Even with the relegation of the Covid-19 various varieties to the status of “a nasty form of influenza” , national health services would be well advised to ensure that vaccines are available from other sources to provide a continuation to the existing almost free protection programmes for the most vulnerable.

Of course, Pfizer admits to having invested in an extensive and expensive research programme to provide vaccines which will be effective in combating a whole new range of respiratory diseases which are on the immediate horizon as well as developments in the treatment of migraines and diabetes. These new drugs will largely be marketed to the private sector to bring anticipated annual profits of at least USD 2 billion

The expectations of Pfizer and, no doubt, those of its associates in Big Pharma may strengthen the economic and healthcare prospects of the wealthier citizens of prosperous nations but must spread medical despondency to the majority of the global population which is already preparing for the disasters of climate change.