Why do some people think that a vaccine is like a free bag of heroin?
The usual suspects…
How Is a Vaccine Like a Free Bag of Heroin?
In this case, this new bit of anti-vaccine propaganda is coming from Del Bigtree in an interview with Christian Perronne.
Who?
Christian Perronne is an ID professor in France, and surprisingly, he was also a former vice president of the WHO (actually, he was just a member of an advisory group).
His claim to fame is that he doesn’t believe that COVID vaccines work and he pushed for the use of ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine as COVID treatments.
“Professor Christian Perronne was summoned by the disciplinary chamber of the regional council of the Ordre des médecins d'Île-de-France, this Tuesday, September 13 at 9:30 a.m. The Order blames him for his positions during the health crisis, during which he relayed anti-vaccine and conspiracy theories, but also stated that ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine have a proven effectiveness against Covid - contrary to what the scientific community has demonstrated - or that Covid patients represent a financial boon for doctors.”
Antivax, idol of the extreme right: Christian Perronne, the fall of a professor once respected
Oh, and his main interest now is on chronic Lyme disease…
What else?
He is the French Connection in Del Bigtree’s claim that Bill Gates providing low-cost vaccines to many countries is like a dealer giving someone a $5 bag of heroin.
Why?
Christian Perronne says that countries first get vaccines at a very discounted price and then, after a few years, Bill Gates and GAVI increase it to a less discounted price. And by that time, once the vaccine is on their schedule, they won’t be able to remove it and so are forced to pay the higher price.
“Del compares the model to a dealer giving away a first free bag of heroin. He says Gates gets wealthy countries like the United States to cover costs upfront, then offers developing nations a discount to get them onto the recommendation list before raising prices once withdrawal becomes politically difficult. He points out that Gates remains the world's richest man despite running his vaccine work through a nonprofit.”
Del Bigtree
And of course, somehow, Bill Gates is profiting off all of this.
The Del Bigtree Misinformation Model
So, what’s the real truth?
“Our eligibility, transition and co-financing policies are at the core of Gavi’s approach to sustainability. Our support is aimed at lower-income countries, it is time-limited and directly linked to the governments’ ability to pay for vaccines, depending on which phase of the Gavi transition process they have reached.”
Eligibility & co-financing policies
The truth is that Gavi is open and clear about their eligibility and co-financing policies!
There is no conspiracy!
In fact, the goal is for countries to pay more for their vaccines, with annual increases, so that they quickly transition to receiving less of a subsidy and 100% self-financing.
“Countries enter Gavi support in the initial self-financing phase, where they pay a small amount towards their vaccine costs. When they move to the preparatory transition phase, the price fraction of their co-financing increases by 15% per year, after the grace year. As their GNI per capita grows, they enter the accelerated transition phase – an eight-year period when co-financing reaches 100% of vaccine costs and phase-out from our support.”
Eligibility & co-financing policies
So they pay more as they are able to pay more…
You would think that Christian Perronne might have mentioned all of this, no?
You would think that Del Bigtree might have done a little research on the Gavi model before comparing it “to a dealer giving away a first free bag of heroin.”
Gavi helps countries expand their national immunization programs so that more of their people can get vaccinated and protected.
They help save lives and keep people from getting sick with life-threatening, vaccine-preventable diseases.
Lastly, Gavi doesn’t make money selling vaccines to these countries!
“The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), now 10 years old, was established as a successful and innovative public–private partnership to deal with a fundamental inequity. The poorest children in the poorest parts of the world were being denied access to life-saving vaccines simply on the basis of cost.”
Contribution of the GAVI Alliance to improving health and reducing poverty
After all, Gavi has to buy the vaccines (at a discounted price) before it can provide them to these countries, right?
How much are they discounted?
“Through funding from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and UNICEF’s efforts to consolidate the demand on behalf of low-income countries, it helped to create opportunities for manufacturers to enter the market. Today, thanks to ongoing efforts to build a healthy vaccine market, four manufacturers supply the pentavalent vaccine to UNICEF, with the lowest price at US$0.78 cent per dose – a nearly 80 per cent decrease in price since 2007.”
Transforming global access to vaccines
The Gavi price is about 98.9% lower than the discounted price the CDC pays for vaccines…
Still, as the country pays more, the subsidy from Gavi for the vaccine goes down. It doesn’t mean that Gavi is making more money! They are just providing less help to the country.
Neither does Bill Gates profit from providing all of these countries with vaccines.
In fact, the Gates Foundation gave about $4.1 billion to Gavi!
Also, Bill and Melinda Gates have given over $60 billion to their charitable foundations.
How do you make money by giving all of your money away?!?
More on Del Bigtree
Why Did France Restrict Access to Hydroxychloroquine Just Weeks Before COVID Arrived?
Propaganda About Children Paralyzed and the Gates Foundation Polio Vaccine
Fact Check: French doctor making false vaccine claims is not former WHO VP
Antivax, idol of the extreme right: Christian Perronne, the fall of a professor once respected
Misleading Facebook post claims Bill Gates is making $200 billion from vaccine
Contribution of the GAVI Alliance to improving health and reducing poverty
The Power of Vaccines and How Gavi Has Helped Make the World Healthier
Fully-funded Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is a lifeline for child survival, says WHO