Is AstraZenca Leading the Coronavirus Vaccine Race?
Posted on 08/11/2020
AstraZeneca PLC will be largely exempt from liability claims for its coronavirus vaccine, which is being rushed to the market as is the case with other vaccine makers. Operation Warp Speed is the U.S. government program intended to fund and assist pharmaceutical companies as they try to rid the world of COVID-19. The Operation has supplied AstraZeneca with US$ 1.2 billion. The University of Oxford is a partner in the development of the vaccine.
Senior executives at AstraZeneca were wary of taking on potential lawsuits since side effects of the vaccine could play out over many years. Due to the national interest aspect of the vaccines, it appears unlikely that the U.S. and most other countries plan to hold any pharmaceutical company liable should something go wrong. AstraZeneca is based in Cambridge, U.K. and it is considered Swedish as well. It plans to provide 2 billion doses without taking any profit on them. AstraZeneca is offering unparalleled transparency, providing the U.S. government with its accounting books to prove that it is being sold for cost.
Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) is a mammoth holder of AstraZeneca, and it has been upping its shares lately. Now holding a 2.22% ownership stake in the company (29,172,951 shares), GPFG has enjoyed its 10% rally in 2020 as of August 7, 2020. Norway announced in May that it would be raiding the US$ 1 trillion sovereign wealth fund of nearly US$ 38 billion due to budget stresses.
Brazil, China, and Japan
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro issued a decree on permitting the government to allocate 1.9 billion reais in funds to purchase and eventually produce the potential COVID-19 vaccine, the one tied to AstraZeneca and Oxford University researchers. AstraZeneca has ties to China and recently inked a deal to produce the vaccine in China. The Japanese government has reached an agreement with AstraZeneca to receive a supply of vaccine doses.
Keywords: Norway Government Pension Fund Global.