By Ritah Kemigisa
While more than 80% of people in low income countries are not fully vaccinated, a new Oxfam report has revealed that Vaccine-producing giants like Pfizer and Moderna are making over $1,000(about Shs 3652871) per second from vaccines from their monopoly control over the vaccines.
According to the report, these companies are charging governments up to 24 times more than the potential cost of generic production.
Oxfam International Executive Director of Oxfam International, Gabriela Bucher has condemned such powerful companies for profiting from pain.
She has now challenged governments to introduce permanent wealth taxes to rein in extreme wealth and monopoly power, as well as the outsized carbon emissions of the super-rich.
According to Bucher, an annual wealth tax on millionaires starting at just 2% and 5% on billionaires, could generate $2.52 trillion a year, more than enough to lift 2.3 billion people out of poverty.
The new Oxfam brief has also revealed that 573 people became billionaires during the pandemic, at the rate of one every 30 hours.
The report titled, “Profiting from Pain” has been published as the World Economic Forum takes place for the first time face-to-face since COVID-19, a period during which billionaires have enjoyed a huge boost to their fortunes.
According to the brief, for every new billionaire created during the pandemic that is one every 30hours, nearly a million people could be pushed into extreme poverty in 2022 at nearly the same rate.
