Updated March 30, 2022 at 12:00 p.m.
My website it https://lisaparentcovid-19.ca
WHO is out of touch with reality
Even though there is a minor tie to big tabacco in the ownership of Medicago the plant used to grow the Medicago VLP vaccine component is not a tabacco plant but rather a cousin of the tabacco plant.
The vaccine developer at the middle of the controversy—Quebec-based Medicago Inc.—is owned by two major foreign shareholders including Philip Morris Investments (PMI) and Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma. PMI owns one-third of Medicago and its former vice-president of regulatory affairs is the President and CEO of the vaccine developer. PMI has reported investing an undisclosed sum in the development of the new vaccine.
Philip Morris and the Government of Canada collaborate on COVID-19 vaccine development – Blog – Tobacco Control (bmj.com)
Frankly PMI only owns a 33% share in the company and the company is controlled and run by Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma not Philip Morris. As I said before the plant used to grow the VLPs is a cousin of the tabacco plant not a tabacco plant. With the use of this plant would it not make sense to have a minority partner with a tabacco company since they know how to grow such plants?
Canada wants WHO approval for Medicago COVID-19 vaccine so it can be donated: Sajjan
WHO paused pre-approval process over company’s link to tobacco industry
International Development Minister Harjit Sajjan says he wants the World Health Organization to greenlight Medicago’s COVID-19 shot so it can be donated and used by the COVAX vaccine-sharing alliance.
But he says Canada’s ability to get more doses out the door to lower-income countries depends mostly on getting reassurance they can and will be used when they are sent.
The WHO paused the process for pre-qualification of Medicago’s vaccine last week due to its link to Marlboro cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris International.
The Canadian Press · Posted: Mar 21, 2022 4:40 PM ET | Last Updated: March 21 – Canada wants WHO approval for Medicago COVID-19 vaccine so it can be donated: Sajjan | CBC News
Medicago shot back.
Base decision on efficacy, safety of shot: Medicago
In a statement, Medicago says it has not received any official communication from the WHO.
“It is our understanding that the WHO has made a decision to pause the approval of the vaccine and that this decision is related to Medicago’s minority shareholder, and not to the efficacy and safety of the vaccine, which was demonstrated with the approval by Health Canada,” the statement reads.
“Medicago believes that these decisions should be based on the quality, efficiency and safety of the vaccine.
Philip Morris Investments, a subsidiary of Philip Morris International, has been a shareholder of Medicago since 2008 and currently holds an approximately one-third equity stake, according to its website. It says it has supported the company’s “innovative plant-derived research and development focused on vaccines.”
Medicago uses the plant species nicotiana benthamiana, a close relative of tobacco plants that is used for pharmaceutical development, to produce its vaccine, largely because of the high number of viruses that can successfully infect it.
Clinical trials have shown the vaccine’s overall efficacy rate against all virus variants studied was 71 per cent, with a higher efficacy rate of 75 per cent against COVID-19 infections of any severity.
The vaccine would be the first Western-manufactured COVID-19 shot to be rejected by the WHO, according to Bloomberg.
Quebec’s Medicago COVID-19 vaccine faces WHO rejection over company’s tobacco ties | CBC News
Conclusion
It is my opinion that the WHO is playing politics with its decision on this. The fact that Bill Gates is through his foundation effectively controls the WHO by being their major investor.
The WHO has a worrisome reliance on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
But the change would also have another important effect: It would reduce the impact private philanthropies—notably, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation—on the overall budget. The Gates Foundation is the second-largest contributor to the WHO. As of September 2021, it had invested investing nearly $780 million in its programs this year. Germany, the biggest contributor, had contributed more than $1.2 billion, while the US donated $730 million.
The WHO is too dependent on Gates Foundation donations — Quartz (qz.com)
Okay so The Gates Foundation is the second largest financier of the WHO right after Germany. You see GAVI is Bill Gates baby and guess who one of the pioneer members is of GAVI. About our Alliance (gavi.org)
You guessed it Pfizer.
Our Impact on Innovation
In 2009, Pfizer became one of the first companies to participate in the Advance Market Commitment (AMC), a pioneering partnership between Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and donor governments to make vaccines available to infants and children in least-developed countries. Further, Pfizer partnered with Gavi and UNICEF to provide humanitarian relief to Rwanda and Gambia, enabling these governments to launch an additional national immunization program.
Since March 2010, Pfizer has been working with Gavi, an international organization that brings together public and private sectors to create access to vaccines for infants and young children through the AMC. The AMC provides vaccines to the world’s most resource-constrained countries on an accelerated, affordable, and sustainable basis. Nicaragua was the first Gavi-eligible country in the developing world to launch an immunization program under the AMC. By December 2011, 16 countries launched an immunization program under the AMC.
The Gavi Alliance | Pfizer
I don’t believe this decision by the WHO has anything to do with Philip Morris minority shares in Medicago. I believe it is because their major investor is in bed with Pfizer.