The Political Economy of Ebola | Jacobin
A really spot on article. Basically - pharmaceutical companies could totally develop an Ebola vaccine. But it isn’t profitable, so they don’t bother. This goes for most vaccines - it’s more profitable to make medicine that people have to take for the rest of their lives (like diabetes or asthma) rather than investing in vaccines.
One prospect I find particularly terrifying is the looming threat of a "post-antibiotic era". I’m obviously not a scientist or doctor, but it’s basically like this - we currently have broad-spectrum antibiotics that kill everything. You take an antibiotic and it nukes everything, rather than the specific “problem bacteria” the person has. Over time this has led to antibiotic-resistant bacteria. And it’s a huge problem that isn’t really getting any airtime.
The WHO predicts that a post-antibiotic era will arrive during our lifetime, where we no longer have effective medicine against routine infections.
That’s a huge fucking deal. Thousands and thousands of people are already dying because of it - they’re infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, can’t be treated with antibiotics, and they die. Pharmaceutical companies won’t develop or invest in new types of drugs because it isn’t profitable. It’s more profitable to just keep producing and marketing broad-spectrum antibiotics. The whole thing is terrifying and obviously morally bankrupt.