The Academy of Science and Enlightenment, founded with the initiative of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) with the objective of struggling against reactionary ideologies in scientific disciplines, has released a statement regarding the discussions that came after the recent news about the Covid-19 vaccine.
The Academy of Science and Enlightenment stating that while anti-vaxxer misinformation has been increasing with the latest vaccine news, emphasized the dominance by monopolies in the health sector is inevitable in capitalism.
The full statement emphasizing which all vaccines should be free and delivered equally is as follows:
“The discussion should be on how to deliver vaccine equally and free of charge, not about the necessity of vaccine.
Recently, positive results have been coming from the Covid-19 vaccine studies, which have been carried out rapidly since the beginning of the pandemic. It is aimed that leading vaccine candidates will be approved in December and widely available in 2021.
The number of people infected worldwide in the pandemic approached 65 million, and approximately 1.5 million died. While the spread of the disease continues to increase rapidly all around the world, the production and widespread implementation of vaccines is crucial for fighting the pandemic by protecting people from the disease and breaking the chain of contamination.
In the meantime, discussions are ongoing regarding Covid-19 vaccine candidates in our country and the world. The discussions on scientific methods, the efficacy and safety of the vaccine are undoubtedly necessary and essential for public health. Nevertheless, it is necessary to open the healthcare system in capitalism, which is the main reason for the spread of the disease, to the discussion. However, anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists, who were unusually quiet during the pandemic, have also joined these discussions. The claims, some of which are entirely devoid of scientific basis, can, unfortunately, be effective in societies whose relationship with science has been weakened.
While drug monopolies are in a race to develop the Covid-19 vaccine, the way in which interim results of vaccination studies are shared with the public is incompatible with scientific responsibility. At this point, what needs to be discussed is not the necessity of vaccines but the necessity of emancipate vaccine production and distribution from the auspices of monopolies.
To develop and protect public health and fight the Covid-19 pandemic, the vaccines that will be developed must be implemented equally and free of charge all around the world. Extortion of the right to health by monopolies harms public health by restraining working people’s access to medical services and raising suspicion of science in society.
To use the labor of scientists for the benefit of humanity and to access of working people to the right to health, research and development in vaccine studies, production and distribution have to be carried out by the public within the framework of central planning. Providing widespread immunization required to combat the pandemic and determine priorities is only possible with a free and public healthcare system.
The Academy of Science and Enlightenment”
