In these days of covid, and vaccinations, a problem seems to be emerging. Manufacturing companies must produce all the vaccines needed to vaccinate the population. Among the fake news of the neo-populist front of big finance (Corriere, Repubblica, LaStampa), one thing finally emerges: throughout Europe, and also part of the rest of the West, companies admit that they do not have the ability to produce all the doses that are needed, regardless of orders. And we are the lucky ones in the world, because the rest of the planet still does not know if it will ever be able to get vaccinated.

Now, you will say: but we are asking them to produce hundreds of millions of doses in a few days, they are doing everything they can.

No. Experience has taught me that when you are faced with an answer that seems definitive, you can get out of the impasse by simply reversing the question.

Instead of asking "how many companies are striving to produce all the vaccine they need," we have to ask the reverse question: how many companies are NOT making vaccines?

Without going very far, we can say that the top ten pharmaceutical companies in the world are:

and we can see that at least 5 are out of the game. And we are not talking about companies that can produce little vaccine. We are talking about companies with an important production capacity.

But each country has its own pharmaceutical companies. Even without bothering the big ones, for example Italy has

And the first in the ranking has about 8000 employees, more than BioNTech, to say the least. Of course they do not have the size of the "big ones", but as you can see the list contains both a couple of "big ones", which at least on an Italian scale are not really to be thrown away.

And if I went to the German case, I wouldn't notice how Bayer, which has a remarkable production capacity, sits on the bench. A scandal.

And so we need to understand one thing.

we are not "joining forces" at all. There is no common effort in which everyone participates to win. And it is not true that we are putting "human life before money".

Yes, for money. Because there is a reason why, globally, only a handful of companies are producing the vaccine, against a production capacity tens of times greater.

They are called "Patents".

The reason why we CANNOT get all the companies we have to produce the vaccine is precisely this. They are called "patents".

The methods are known, the products are known, its effectiveness is known, but half of Europe is waiting for BioNtech to open a second facility in order to produce even more vaccines. While Bayer, which has facilities almost everywhere in Germany, cannot even lend a hand.

And the same goes for Italy. Not even the Military Pharmaceutical Institute had a mandate to send the patents to that country and produce the vaccine. To 500 deaths a day.

Of course, it may not be easy for these "dormant" companies to do their job. I'm not saying, mind you, just snap your fingers. Plants have to be built and adapted. But there are several things to understand:

• between experimentation and approval, months have passed. With due notice, couldn't the other companies really have been able to help a little?

• even if it takes time to make facilities, or to adapt them, you must always ask yourself how much time has been lost.

• and we remember well that on this planet there are 8 billion people among whom Covid is turning, and will continue to turn for years. Probably not even the productive power of ALL the companies put together would be enough.

• not only the plant is needed to make the facilities. We need expert staff, we need machinery, we need raw materials. Even if the other pharmaceuticals could not participate directly, we are really sure they could not participate. A matter of trade secrecy: Pfizer would never allow people from Bayer or AbbVie to come in and poke their noses.

We even arrived at a paradox: at one point we complained that the "hackers" penetrated the defenses of the companies involved to steal the formula of a vaccine. The formula of a vaccine. To make the vaccine. To vaccinate people.

It was weapons, I would also understand. But what exactly was "the danger"? Could some other nation be furiously vaccinating their own people?

Was it a danger? Can you explain to me why the risk of a country X producing a vaccine is "bad"?

For money. For patents that are worth money.

So when we say EVERYONE is doing their best, are we telling the truth?

When we have MILLIONS of deaths around the world, and we leave much of the pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity out of the game to save patents, are we REALLY "putting human life in front of everything"?

Even in the face of money and patents?