AstraZeneca’s foray into vaccines is becoming a cautionary tale for companies that proclaim the intention to do the right thing. It agreed with developers at Oxford university to manufacture and distribute at cost a coronavirus “vaccine for the world”. But it has been dogged by controversy, over side-effects and EU supply delays. Now it is embroiled in another: over its contract in Thailand with a company owned by the Thai king, and production problems that have delayed the vaccine rollout there and across south-east Asia. Some rivals, meanwhile, are charging five times AstraZeneca and making hefty profits.
As well as its no-profit pledge, the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker busily engaged last year, even before its vaccine was approved, in what drugs companies are being urged to do more of now: concluding agreements with manufacturers around the globe, including in…
