All of the sudden, vaccine and vaccination are on everyone’s lips: in the short term, vaccination provides the individual with little tangible benefit. Vaccines precisely eradicate diseases, make them invisible and over time, the memory of the severe consequences of certain illnesses fades away. Vaccination opponents no longer want to see the benefits that vaccines spill over to society.

For now, vaccine research is once again a topical issue. Yet a few years ago, there was talk of supply shortage. Many causes were mentioned, that were said to be related to both production and demand.

Yes. And Switzerland too had to face increasingly frequent vaccine supply shortages – a particularly critical issue for infant vaccination, since there is often no alternative to protect our youngest ones against sometimes life-threatening diseases.

Should Switzerland set up its own vaccine production facilities? Christoph Berger, former president of the Federal Vaccination Commission, got very frustrated with the slow registration by SwissMedic, in Switzerland, of vaccines that were already authorised in the EU. His answer when asked about a possible Swiss production:

“I do not think that’s realistic”, said Mister Berger. “Manufacturing vaccines is highly technical and complex. It would as well be a rather unattractive business, there would not be much money to be made. Being profitable requires to serve a very large market. The Swiss market would be way too small. This is the reason why small vaccine manufacturers have been taken over by larger companies over the last years”.

“That’s right!” I tell myself. The Swiss Serum and Vaccine Institute Berne, for example! Founded 1898 as a result of a merger. Under the leadership of its founders, the company quickly made a name for itself as a manufacturer of smallpox vaccines, and later of vaccines to fight epidemics (i.a. diphtheria, cholera, polio, typhoid, meningitis, hepatitis, influenza) as well as products for emergency and veterinary medicine.

Growth, subsidiaries – Berna Biotech was a flagship company. In 2004, it employed 850 staff worldwide, 400 of whom based in Switzerland. In 2006, it was taken over by the Dutch firm Crucell. 2011 then saw the takeover of Crucell Switzerland AG by the American group Johnson & Johnson. As a result of the above-mentioned profitability issue, the group made the choice to concentrate production in other regions, leaving in Switzerland the sole development department with Janssen Vaccines AG in Berne.

This is a paradox: we are feverishly searching for new vaccines. Yet at the same time, the commercial production of long known vaccines is not cost-effective. How much are we willing to pay for health – and at this very moment, for global health?

It is now time for prices to change so as to enable such production facilities to operate profitably in China, Europe and the US and to be in a position to initiate large-scale research with the profits earned.