I thought it was bad that an old paper of mine is still behind a $45 paywall. Now, the New York Times is reporting that another $45 paywall actually cost lives:

We were stunned recently when we stumbled across an article by European researchers in Annals of Virology: “The results seem to indicate that Liberia has to be included in the Ebola virus endemic zone.” In the future, the authors asserted, “medical personnel in Liberian health centers should be aware of the possibility that they may come across active cases and thus be prepared to avoid nosocomial epidemics,” referring to hospital-acquired infection.

What triggered our dismay was not the words, but when they were written: The paper was published in 1982.

…

Even today, downloading one of the papers would cost a physician here $45, about half a week’s salary.

We need to abandon closed access, now.