上海交大赵大海关于新冠疫情第34次在电视台访谈评论：全球共享新冠疫苗面临知识产权、产量和价格等难题
上海交通大学国际与公共事务学院博士生导师、上海交通大学-耶鲁大学卫生政策联合研究中心执行主任赵大海，对于新冠肺炎疫情暴发与防控第15次做客上海电视台演播室进行访谈评论，也是第34次在央视、上视进行访谈评论。在2020年5月20日，赵大海做客东方卫视电视台的《今晚》节目，就新冠肺炎疫苗研发进展与上市后的可能问题进行了解读和评论。现将访谈内容摘录如下。
主持人：赵先生，《英国卫报》在5月14号报道：全球有140多个国家的政要和流行病学专家联合发出公开信，呼吁预疫苗研发出来之后，不应该享有专利权，应该免费供应给全世界使用，那么在您看来，相关疫苗一旦研发成功，在全球共享的这个执行过程中可能存在哪些问题困难？
赵大海：在执行过程当中，在表面上看应该主要有两个问题。第一个就是产量。目前来看，世界上还没有一家或者几家疫苗的研发或生产企业能够承担起全球70亿人的需求量。第二是价格。如果实行市场机制来调节价格的话，那可能疫苗的研制或者生产企业，把价格定得比较高；在这个前提下，世界上很多发展中国家就很难有能力来为他们国家的居民购买疫苗。但本质上，其实就是刚才您提到的这个专利权或者知识产权的问题。只有破除了或者跳过新冠肺炎疫苗的知识产权才有可能实现作为一个免费的公共物品向全球居民进行提供。这就是说真正的这个执行的问题应该就在这里，就是知识产权这方面。
主持人：我们继续请教。那么昨天，美国生物科技公司摩德纳宣布在8位志愿者身上进行了新冠疫苗，第一阶段的临床试验获得了积极的成果，并预期七月进行最后阶段的临床试验；此前三天的美国加州一家制药公司也宣布了非常乐观的消息。那么结合美国从1月开始研发疫苗的情况，那么根据您的观察，美国是不是会早于世界其他的国家，最先把疫苗研发出来？
赵大海：刚才在小片当中也提到了，现在全世界118个新冠肺炎研发的疫苗当中，在第一梯队的有8个：中国有4个，美国是有3个，美国确实是在第一梯队当中，而且有3家，但中国也有4家，另外还有一家其他国家的机构。目前来看，并没有明显的证据证明美国新冠肺炎疫苗的研发要早于或者说要好于其他国家。美国白宫首席传染病学家福奇所提到的：美国新冠肺炎的疫苗，如果最乐观的估计，会在今年的年底或者说是明年的年初能够研制成功或者上市；而中国在新冠肺炎的疫苗的研制和上市时间也差不多。乐观估计，中国的疫苗应该在今年年底或者明年的年初上市。综上所述，应该讲美国没有充足的证据证明他们能比其他国家更早研制出新冠肺炎疫苗来。
供稿者：国务学院
日期：5月21日
Dahai Zhao' 34th comments on TV during the Pandemic: Global Available Free of COVID-19 Vaccine Faces Challenges in Intellectual Property, Production and Price
Dahai Zhao, a doctoral supervisor at School of International and Public Affairs of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Executive Director of Shanghai Jiao Tong University-Yale University Joint Research Center for Health Policy, has been interviewed by ShanghaiTV for the 15th time (the 34th time by CGTN / ShanghaiTV) since the COVID-19 pandemic. On May 20, 2020, Zhao commented on progress in COVID-19 vaccine development and possible post-marketing issues on “Tonight”.
Anchor: Politicians and epidemiologists from more than 140 countries have issued an open letter, The Guardian reported on May 14. It called for a pre-made vaccine to be made available free of charge to the world, rather than patented. So in your opinion, what are the problems that might be involved in the implementation of a globally Shared vaccine once it is developed?
Zhao: On the face of it, there should be two main problems in the execution process. The first one is production. At present, there were not a single or several vaccine development or manufacturing companies in the world capable of meeting the needs of 7 billion people around the world. The second is price. If there is a market mechanism to regulate the price, the development or manufacture of the vaccine may set the price higher. With that in mind, many developing countries around the world will have limited ability to buy vaccines for their citizens. But essentially, it's this patent or intellectual property issue that you just mentioned. Only when the intellectual property rights to the COVID-19 vaccine are removed or bypassed can it be made available to the global population as a free public good. The issue is the intellectual property.
Anchor: Modena, a us biotechnology company, announced yesterday that it had carried out a phase one clinical trial of the COVID-19 vaccine on eight volunteers, with positive results, and was expected to carry out the final phase in July. Three days earlier, a pharmaceutical company in California had also announced upbeat news. So based on your observation, given the fact that the United States began to develop a vaccine in January, will the United States be the first to develop a vaccine before other countries in the world?
Zhao: As mentioned in the film, of the 118 COVID-19 vaccines developed in the world, eight are in the first tier: four in China and three in the United States. The United States was indeed in the first tier, and there were three, but China also had four, and there was another institution from another country. At this point, there was no clear evidence that the COVID-19 vaccine was developed earlier or better in the United States than in other countries. A vaccine for COVID-19 in the United States, at best, could be ready or on the market by the end of this year or early next year, said Fauci, chief epidemiologist of White House. China's COVID-19 vaccine will be developed and marketed at about the same time. Optimistically, China's vaccine should be available by the end of this year or early next. To sum up, it should be said that the United States did not have sufficient evidence to prove that they can develop COVID-19 vaccine earlier than other countries.
Contributor: SIPA, SJTU
Data: May 21