Access to medical supplies and devices — the lesser known story of COVID-19 and medical monopoly

Salimah Valiani
South Centre – SOUTHVIEWS NO. 208

Discussions around access to potential vaccines for COVID-19 are widespread, particularly in the global South. Much less discussed is the lack of access to already existing medical technology crucial to stemming the spread of the novel coronavirus and assisting its most severely affected victims. The latter is the outcome of the monopoly control of medical technology — a phenomenon stretching at least as long as the monopoly of Big PHARMA — though much less understood.

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