[CTC] Statement: COVID IP Waiver Proposal Is Too Weak to Help End the Pandemic

[Arthur Stamoulis]

Statement: COVID IP Waiver Proposal Is Too Weak to Help End the Pandemic
For Immediate Release:
Mar. 15, 2022
 
Contact: Mike Stankiewicz, mike at tradejusticeedfund.org <mailto:mike at tradejusticeedfund.org>, (202) 255-7472
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. – According to news reports <https://u1584542.ct.sendgrid.net/ss/c/dSCQfi9FLISmU3ZE3bfPhmXL6FiZ2obNO-CLWmD5umTXe1DTxMdJ1exbXBN28U5keytT27OTIGBSzZHpOk7NxUlrxyHEcMQBdrflmQ3eUZlcnHYKpQ_DIF0uCOkdtYflIWhBb_ZqbL-vGDNJ3ZN_OF1_D9RcS1ng4xebzovocKIO6SNh9kYdjUR2F7IwrRKOGSW9ARc59n0pxwIcttA9FBMRXrbvVDCkfY4M4OXPqooosTFffelWr6GpqgNKGOimdMEb0e8PDOvIxpFqDzVkveNybs6qgXxQ8ewGFG18snF1DrW3Im1zzAN8rDq31rwBgIEv9IkWk4TzGeiolHJFupSO3APIoXWuWG6sZMf_pl8/3kd/tOKe7tqwSveGIs5kkj_gbA/h0/sBQgfEJP52GCgt7H_1CoP1Jtx_ZpXeF4fAGGw8XslWA>, the EU, the U.S., South Africa and India have reached an agreement on a World Trade Organization waiver of intellectual property rights that does not include COVID tests or treatments and is severely limited even on the question of vaccines. Arthur Stamoulis, executive director of the Trade Justice Education Fund, released the following statement:
 
“This proposal isn’t strong enough to expand access to vaccines, and it won’t lessen the global demand on U.S. and European leaders to put human lives ahead of pharmaceutical monopolies’ profits.
“To save lives and end the pandemic, the world needs a comprehensive  waiver that removes all forms of intellectual property rules standing in the way of increased production of COVID vaccines, diagnostics and treatments.
“To start, this watered-down proposal does nothing to expand access to tests and treatments, which are critical to moving COVID from a deadly pandemic to a manageable endemic. Putting off a decision about access to diagnostics and therapeutics is indefensible on public health, economic and moral grounds. That is a complete give-in to Big Pharma that, bafflingly, has the Biden administration’s fingerprints all over it.  
“Additionally, there is nothing in the proposal that would share vaccine-making recipes and other technical know-how with qualified producers around the world. Forcing countries to reverse-engineer formulas that could be shared with a simple email is unscionable and deadly.
“Perhaps most importantly, the proposal does not remove the full range of intellectual property barriers required to speed the production of vaccines, let alone test kits and treatments. 
“After more than a year of dawdling, this proposal effectively abandons the billions of people still without access to COVID vaccines and treatments.  The obstinance and greed of rich nations who continue to block a real waiver is costing countless lives, and putting the world at risk of new variants that threaten to undo the progress made against the virus everywhere.”


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