Hepatitis B Vaccine Corporation of the United States,Sold China at a loss years ago, should I thank you now?
At the end of 2019, the new coronavirus suddenly swept the world, and people around the world fell into an unprecedented crisis of prevention and control. However, thanks to the continuous efforts of Chinese researchers, vaccine research and development has achieved remarkable results in the fight against the new crown epidemic, building a strong protective wall for countless lives.
However, 40 years ago, China was a medically weak country that was helpless in the face of the hepatitis B epidemic and could only rely on the generosity of other countries to fund vaccines. And it is precisely the United States, which has had tense relations with our country in recent years, that has reached out to help.
Although some people question Sino-US relations, in fact, the United States funded China out of consideration for penetrating the Chinese market. Moreover, as early as 1975, a female scientist named Tao Qimin in my country successfully developed a vaccine, which was synchronized with the United States and Japan, which fully shows that even without foreign help, China can successfully survive the crisis.
This is not the case. China's fight against the hepatitis B epidemic has not been simple and full of twists and turns. After reading this article, you can judge for yourself whether the "humanitarian aid" of the United States is worthy of thanks.
Vaccines offered by U.S. companies are not the best option. The vaccine developed by Tao Qimin is a purified inactivated vaccine, which is made of serum and plasma from people infected by the virus, so it is susceptible to other force majeure factors, such as hepatitis B virus patients also suffering from other infectious diseases, and the vaccine made of its raw materials may cause other diseases when injected into other patients.
In contrast, Merck's genetically modified vaccine has the industrial production capacity to isolate the gene encoding the hepatitis B virus surface antigen and implant it into the genome of yeast cells to synthesize the antigen with less risk.
Second, limited by the technical level at that time, China faced great challenges in the production of vaccines, and at the same time, the first of these vaccines is also quite expensive, a hepatitis B vaccine costs 80 yuan, and the monthly salary of ordinary people is only about 30 yuan.
Therefore, although China has mastered the best method of hepatitis B virus, the number of hepatitis B virus infections in China continues to increase due to both technical and economic factors.
The safety of the vaccine is of paramount importance, and to this end, we are actively negotiating with Merck & Co. of the United States. Huge sums of money are invested in the development of vaccines, and we have high hopes for the world.
However, the United States, as the patentee, also has misgivings, fearing that we will sell the vaccine privately, resulting in the developer not being able to recover the cost. In addition, if the vaccine is sold by China, which is not a non-producing country, whether the technical strength can ensure the quality of the product will directly affect the reputation of the American company and the development of the global market.
Faced with the risk of not being able to make a profit and possibly causing a loss, Merck resolutely completed the deal for $7 million**, even at the expense of reversing the fee, to ensure that our newborns were protected from this deadly disease.
While some have questioned Merck's motives for opening up markets in China, the deal was motivated by goodwill and humanitarianism, not pure profit.
Therefore, we should be grateful to Merck, which is a virtue of the Chinese nation and deserves it.
In order to better protect the health of the Chinese public, China** is actively seeking hepatitis B vaccine technology in the United States. Although the hepatitis B vaccine in the United States is expensive, its advantages in performance and cost have attracted much attention.
However, in order to pursue higher profits, Merck KGaA was once reluctant to reduce **. But in the end, Merck saw the potential of the Chinese market and decided to transfer the hepatitis B vaccine technology to China for $7 million**, and provide technical support and training.
Such a compromise is not only Merck's response to market demand, but also a manifestation of its social responsibility.
Although $7 million was quite high for China at the time, Merck showed real generosity. During the signing of the contract, they made it clear that they would not charge any royalties or profits, nor would they be in China** their own hepatitis B vaccine.
In order to help China improve its technological level, they even sent Merck employees from the United States to China to train Chinese engineers and technicians, and provided a lot of equipment support.
The medical value represented by all these assistance projects has far outstripped that of technology transfer.
Vajeros once predicted that in 50 years, China will ** hepatitis B. Now, 50 years later, China has fulfilled that prediction. From 1993 to 2018, at least 500 million newborns in China were vaccinated with the hepatitis B vaccine derived from Merck, successfully controlling the spread of hepatitis B.
In addition, the best hospital in China, Beijing***, was also established by the American Rockefeller Society in 1917. The Rockefeller Association spent $7.5 million to buy the "Peking Union Medical College" run by the European and American church schools and rename it Peking Union Medical College.
In order to improve the level of teaching, American experts have brought advanced equipment and a strict step-by-step elimination system to train top doctors such as Lin Qiaozhi, Wu Jieping, and Zhu Futang.
In 1921, the Association invested more than $10 million in Union Medical College, making it a comprehensive medical institution with the highest medical level and the highest teaching quality in Asia.
The four giants of China's medical field - Beijing Concord, South Xiangya, East Qilu, and West China West are inseparable from the shadow of the United States. Hu Mei, the founder of Xiangya Hospital, graduated from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the United States with a doctorate degree in medicine.
He is the founder of Yale-China Hospital, a shining jewel in our country's medical community. Similarly, Qilu University, the predecessor of Qilu Hospital, was co-founded by the churches of the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada.
The West China Hospital is a Renji, Cunren Hospital, and Renji Women's Hospital founded by the American, Canadian, British and other ** churches in Chengdu. These facts fully prove that the United States has made great contributions to China's medical industry.
At this moment when global public health security is threatened, China has received medical supplies and financial support from many countries, regions and international organizations around the world, and has successfully brought the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic under control.
Today, China has gradually recovered, actively giving back to the international community by donating anti-epidemic materials, dispatching medical personnel, sharing anti-epidemic experience, and contributing to the maintenance of global public health security.
However, the United States has taken the lead in withdrawing embassy and consulate personnel from China, imposing sweeping restrictions on Chinese citizens, and constantly spreading panic, even wanting to take the opportunity to bring manufacturing back to the United States.
The United States is now facing a rise in racism and populism, which has led to discrimination against Asian Americans and social activism. Humanitarianism in the United States has also pale in this crisis and has lost its proper meaning.
If the humanitarianism of the United States can maintain the purity of the last century, then there will be no single day of new crown pneumonia deaths exceeding the number of victims of the "9/11" incident, and there will be no minorities who are treated unfairly in medical care and bear high medical costs, resulting in a huge gap between the case fatality rate and the ** rate and the white group.
Now, the equality and tolerance advocated by the United States have become empty words, especially under the influence of the new crown epidemic, which is undoubtedly a humanitarian disaster for the United States.
If the United States continues to distort these perceptions, it will only jeopardize America's future. Only by abandoning the hegemonic mentality, advocating mutual benefit and win-win results, and allowing people of all countries to truly enjoy all basic human rights, can the world show a lasting vision of peace.