I generally avoid talking about my view on viruses and vaccines but with the spread of the current coronavirus, I am finding it quite hard to bite my tongue. Before anyone gets their knicker in a not, I am not denying the fact that some vaccines have helped to eradicate very serious illnesses. At the same time, however, I am very much of the opinion that with the cures, new strains of diseases and health concerns have also been created (such as asthma and infertility, for example). 

I also believe that vaccines are an extremely profitable business to be in and that not all scientists have the complete well-being of humans in mind. A recent article I stumbled upon supported this concern.

Image Source - Unsplash

I am quite sure that you are following the outbreak of coronavirus that currently has China (and the rest of the world) in a flurry? But did you know that this virus was isolated by a patent holder, meaning that only THEY can sell the genetic information of the virus?

This invention was made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an agency of the United States Government. Therefore, the U.S. Government has certain rights in this invention. -  https://patents.google.com/patent/US7220852

This means that if a person is suspected to be infected by corona, then they would have to test whether the person is indeed infected with this specific strain of the virus. In turn, this suggests that pathologists would have to buy the genetic information from the patent holder in order to do the test accurately.

And that's where the money is made...

Also, if you want to create a vaccine against Corona, you'll have to buy the genome from the patent holder. 

This invention relates to a newly isolated human coronavirus. More particularly, it relates to an isolated coronavirus genome, isolated coronavirus proteins, and isolated nucleic acid molecules encoding the same. The disclosure further relates to methods of detecting a severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus and compositions comprising immunogenic coronavirus compounds. -  https://patents.google.com/patent/US7220852 

This is just an interesting take on what's happening "behind the scenes" with the coronavirus outbreak. While people are suffering, money is changing hands. 

Image Source - Unsplash

Somewhat infuriating, don't you think?

Source:

1.  Coronavirus isolated from humans. patents.google.com