As the number of COVID-19 cases rises in Puerto Rico, one of the ironies of the situation on the island is that, though Puerto Rico is home to 12 of the world’s 20 top-grossing pharmaceutical companies, several of whom manufacture COVID-19 tests and reagents, they aren’t being readily supplied to Puerto Ricans.
Activists on the island are pushing back against this inequity, and staged a demonstration in front of the headquarters of one of the largest offenders—Abbott, in the city of Caguas. They lined up 230 body bags, which represent 230 deaths on the island from COVID-19.
One of the incorrect perceptions that many people on the mainland hold about Puerto Rico is that it’s primarily a tourist location, when in actuality tourism only accounts for about 7% of the GNP. Most do not realize how invested in pharmaceuticals and medical supplies the island is—unless there is a problem with the supply chain. We saw this happen after Hurricane Maria, when due to the disaster on the island, mainland hospitals faced a critical shortage of IV fluid bags.
Now that we are facing the pandemic, once again Puerto Rico is key as a supplier, given that two multinational companies in Puerto Rico—Abbott and Roche—manufacture molecular tests to detect COVID-19.
Yet why are these tests not readily available on the island? This is one of the key questions being asked by Puerto Rico’s citizens.
Translation:
Dozens of corpses represented by bags were placed today in front of the pharmaceutical company Abbott and Roche, in charge of manufacturing molecular tests of #covid19 , to denounce the alleged profit of the pharmaceutical companies in the face of the pandemic in PR.
The women you see demonstrating are members of La Colectiva Feminista en Construcción (La Cole) which is a Black feminist political organization mainly based in San Juan. They were at the forefront of the struggle to push for the resignation of Gov. Ricardo Rosselló, they are fighting against gender-based violence, and they have now turned their sights on pharmaceutical vultures.
For more background, Hedge Clippers has published “Pain and Profit: COVID-19 Profiteers in Puerto Rico,” a detailed paper by research analyst Abner Denis.
For many years, the pharmaceutical industry has extracted enormous amounts of wealth from Puerto Rico. The companies have secured lucrative tax breaks from local government officials interested in attracting their operations to the island, and as a result pharmaceutical products account for a large share of Puerto Rico’s exports. But as the country faces the COVID-19 pandemic, the pharmaceutical companies – and the tests and reagents they produce – have been nowhere to be found. For several months, Puerto Rico had the lowest rate of tests done when compared to anywhere in the United States.[1] According to a study published by the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford in England, Puerto Rico is among the countries least prepared to reopen its economy.[2]
Ignoring the recommendations of its own Medical Task Force, the government of Wanda Vázquez decided to reopen the economy without taking advantage of the time gained to adequately strengthen the mass distribution of tests and establish an effective program for tracking infected people. Now, as the economy reopens, the lack of testing has not been addressed, and infection levels are unknown. Pharmaceutical companies have done little to nothing to address the public health crisis, despite having such a large footprint in Puerto Rico. And rather than scrutinize this inaction or call attention to the lack of pharmaceutical supplies on the island, business leaders are clamoring for additional pharmaceutical investment on the island.[3] The inaction of the pharmaceutical industry in this crisis puts thousands of families at risk of illness and death, especially those with limited economic resources who have less access to quality medical services. Abbott and Roche stand out, since their tests to detect COVID-19 are distributed in the US, but in Puerto Rico the tests are conspicuously absent.[4]
Take a listen to this Defend Puerto forum, which is bilingual (primarily in English) discussing the report.
Want to join the fight? You can help by raising awareness, passing on the report, and pressuring your elected officials to investigate profiteering on the island.