<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><i class="">ICYMI on Groundhog Day...</i><div class=""><br class=""><div class=""><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;">Dear friends,<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Please <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeCMLYtfJwATFfEMaYGOYDiyKj7F03ypclyt_G-EQ7FO7CXEA/viewform" class="">add your organization to the sign-on letter below</a> urging President Biden to help bring an end to the global COVID-19 pandemic as quickly as possible by reversing the Trump administration’s shameful insistence that the World Trade Organization (WTO) put Big Pharma profits ahead of public health.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">At a time when so many Americans are desperate for our own government to improve the pace of COVID vaccine production and deployment here in the United States, far too many people in low- and middle-income countries have little hope of getting vaccinated at any point this year. That’s because poorer countries cannot afford to pay monopoly rates for COVID-19 vaccines, and there isn’t enough supply for them to do so even if they could afford them. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Countries with drug manufacturing capacity and expertise, such as South Africa, Argentina, Indonesia and others, should be given every opportunity to ramp up the production of COVID vaccines and treatments as quickly as possible in order to bolster global supplies. Towards this end, <b class="">over 100 countries have called for a temporary waiver at the WTO of “Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights” (TRIPS) on the technologies needed to produce more COVID-19 vaccines and medications.</b> But the United States under the Trump administration was one of the very few governments to block this emergency waiver, effectively insisting that pharmaceutical company profits come before ending the COVID crisis. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Together, we’re asking the Biden administration to reverse that Trump-era decision and support the TRIPS waiver. Supporting the waiver not only has the potential to increase the global supply of COVID vaccines and save lives throughout the world, but could also help get our own economy back on track more quickly and even reduce the chances of a COVID mutation that could prolong the pandemic for everyone. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">This is an urgent, life-or-death matter for people everywhere. <b class="">Please </b><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeCMLYtfJwATFfEMaYGOYDiyKj7F03ypclyt_G-EQ7FO7CXEA/viewform" class=""><b class="">add your organization to the sign-on letter by filling out this form</b></a><b class=""> by Wednesday, February 24.</b> We will be delivering it to President Biden shortly before the next WTO General Council meeting on this topic. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Many thanks,</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div class=""><div class="">Arthur Stamoulis, Executive Director</div><div class="">CITIZENS TRADE CAMPAIGN</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Online: <a href="http://citizenstrade.org" class="">citizenstrade.org</a></div><div class="">Twitter: @citizenstrade</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div><div class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div class="" style="text-align: center;"><b class=""><font size="4" class="">Organizational Sign-On Letter Supporting TRIPS Waiver for COVID-19 Treatments & Vaccines</font></b></div><div class="" style="text-align: center;"><br class=""></div><div class="" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeCMLYtfJwATFfEMaYGOYDiyKj7F03ypclyt_G-EQ7FO7CXEA/viewform" class=""><font size="4" class=""><b class="">Click Here to Add Your Organization by February 24</b></font></a></div><div class="" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeCMLYtfJwATFfEMaYGOYDiyKj7F03ypclyt_G-EQ7FO7CXEA/viewform" class="">https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeCMLYtfJwATFfEMaYGOYDiyKj7F03ypclyt_G-EQ7FO7CXEA/viewform</a></div><div class="" style="text-align: center;"><br class=""></div><div class=""><div class="" style="margin: 0in -0.1in 0.0001pt -4.5pt; text-align: center;"><br class=""></div></div></div></div></div><blockquote class="" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class=""><div class=""><div class="" style="margin: 0in -0.1in 0.0001pt -4.5pt; text-align: center;"><b class=""><span class="" style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">To Help End the Pandemic as Quickly as Possible and Restore U.S. International Cooperation, Please End Trump’s Blockade of the COVID-19 Emergency Waiver of WTO Rules So More Vaccines and Treatment Can Be Produced</span></b></div></div></div></div></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class=""><div class="" style="margin: 0in -0.1in 0.0001pt -4.5pt;"><span class="" style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div></div></div></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class=""><div class="" style="margin: 0in -0.1in 0.0001pt -4.5pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Dear President Biden,</span></div></div></div></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class=""><div class="" style="margin: 0in -0.1in 0.0001pt -4.5pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div></div></div></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class=""><div class="" style="margin: 0in -0.1in 0.0001pt -4.5pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Congratulations on becoming President. We are encouraged by the administration’s steadfast efforts to eradicate COVID-19 and in so doing save countless lives and livelihoods. Many Americans are hopeful that your administration will improve the pace of COVID-19 vaccine production and deployment in the United States. But, that alone will not hasten the end of the global pandemic.</span></div></div></div></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class=""><div class="" style="margin: 0in -0.1in 0.0001pt -4.5pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div></div></div></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class=""><div class="" style="margin: 0in -11.7pt 0.0001pt -4.5pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">We the undersigned organizations respectfully urge you to reverse a dangerous and self-defeating position taken by President Trump that threatens the prospects of ending the COVID-19 disaster. Namely, we urge </span><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">you</span><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">r administration to lift the U.S. blockage of the “Waiver from Certain Provisions of the TRIPS Agreement for the Prevention, Containment and Treatment of COVID-19” supported by more than 100 nations at the World Trade Organization (WTO).<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div></div></div></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class=""><div class="" style="margin: 0in -0.35in 0.0001pt -4.5pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div></div></div></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class=""><div class="" style="margin: 0in -0.35in 0.0001pt -4.5pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">With global supply limited, many people in low- and middle-income countries around the globe </span><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">will not</span><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> have </span><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">vaccine access until </span><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">at least 2022, according to the British Medical Journal</span><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">. </span><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Most of the world’s poorest countries will have to wait until 2024 for mass immunization if current trends continue, reports the Economist Intelligence Unit. We are sure you agree this is unacceptable.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div></div></div></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class=""><div class="" style="margin: 0in -0.1in 0.0001pt -4.5pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div></div></div></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class=""><div class="" style="margin: 0in -0.1in 0.0001pt -4.5pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Such global inequity is not only a catastrophic moral failure</span><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> that will lead to needless suffering and loss of life</span><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">.</span><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> Ongoing outbreaks anywhere mean greater risk of new variants developing against which vaccines are not effective and/or that can evade the antibodies developed by survivors. <b class="">There simply </b></span><b class=""><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">is no way to defeat the pandemic in the United States without bold action worldwide.</span></b></div></div></div></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class=""><div class="" style="margin: 0in -0.1in 0.0001pt -4.5pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div></div></div></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class=""><div class="" style="margin: 0in -0.1in 0.0001pt -4.5pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">The science is clear: People in developing countries need urgent access to vaccines and treatments to achieve herd immunity, just as people in the United States do. Without global action, the</span><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> health crisis and resulting economic crisis here and worldwide will continue. A new International Chamber of Commerce report concluded that the current best-case scenario of wealthy nations being fully vaccinated by the middle of 2021 and poor countries largely shut out could cause economic losses exceeding $9 trillion. Nearly half of those costs would be absorbed by wealthy countries like the United States, Canada and Britain.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div></div></div></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class=""><div class="" style="margin: 0in -0.1in 0.0001pt -4.5pt;"> </div></div></div></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class=""><div class="" style="margin: 0in -0.1in 0.0001pt -4.5pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">The WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) requires WTO signatory countries to provide lengthy monopoly protections for medicines, tests and the technologies used to produce them. After a global campaign by public health and development groups, in 2001 the WTO issued a binding declaration about better balancing TRIPS intellectual property protections and public health needs. A temporary emergency COVID-19 waiver is in line with the WTO members’ agreement that intellectual property rules cannot create barriers to health treatments that unnecessarily cost human lives and undermine the global economy. </span></div></div></div></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class=""><div class="" style="margin: 0in -0.1in 0.0001pt -4.5pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div></div></div></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class=""><div class="" style="margin: 0in -16.2pt 0.0001pt -4.5pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Notably, governments, particularly the United States, provided billions in upfront payments, clinical trial support, and guaranteed purchase, so pharmaceutical firms did not bear risk. Many precursor technologies used in the new vaccines resulted from long-term U.S. government efforts, in collaboration with scientists in the United States and around the world. Yet now the corporations will control where and how much vaccine is made. Even as some firms holding vaccine monopolies have contracted others to manufacture, there is insufficient supply. Thus, while U.S. participation in programs like COVAX is important, unless production is quickly ramped up around the world to meet global demand, there simply will not be enough supply for COVAX to provide countries in need. The corporate monopoly rights and resulting supply shortages also threaten access for billions of people in the developing world, to the COVID-19 treatments that are bringing down mortality rates here. The TRIPS rules limit government options to gain access to vital COVID treatments at an affordable price.</span></div></div></div></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class=""><div class="" style="margin: 0in -0.1in 0.0001pt -4.5pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div></div></div></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class=""><div class="" style="margin: 0in -16.2pt 0.0001pt -4.5pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Today, the many nations that cannot obtain the COVID-19 vaccines and treatments needed to cover their populations must attempt to negotiate the slow “product by product” and “country by country” compulsory license approach allowed under TRIPS. (And attempts to exercise these rights has led to fierce U.S. opposition in recent years, evidenced in the U.S. government’s Special 301 Report.) In contrast, the TRIPS waiver would facilitate access for governments and manufacturers worldwide to the technology needed to invest in making COVID vaccines and treatments as rapidly as possible, in as many places as possible, for the billions who still need them.</span></div></div></div></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class=""><div class="" style="margin: 0in -0.1in 0.0001pt -4.5pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div></div></div></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class=""><div class="" style="margin: 0in -0.1in 0.0001pt -4.5pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">It is rare that one policy change can so significantly impact a global health effort that could save millions of lives. </span><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Supporting this waiver is the right thing to do in and of itself. But doing so would be not only altruistic. Ending the COVID-19 pandemic as quickly as possible worldwide is also necessary to reboot the global economy on which so much of the U.S. economy relies.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div></div></div></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class=""><div class="" style="margin: 0in -0.1in 0.0001pt -4.5pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div></div></div></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class=""><div class="" style="margin: 0in -0.1in 0.0001pt -4.5pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">And, with so many of the world’s nations supporting this emergency waiver already, you can also help restore America’s moral and public health leadership in the world by siding with the majority to prioritize saving lives over protecting pharmaceutical corporation monopolies and profits. This new position would be widely noted, given U.S. officials’ shameful attack on the waiver at a January WTO meeting. </span></div></div></div></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class=""><div class="" style="margin: 0in -0.1in 0.0001pt -4.5pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div></div></div></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class=""><div class="" style="margin: 0in -0.1in 0.0001pt -4.5pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">We </span><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">welcomed your promise </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/08/us/politics/ady-barkan-biden-endorsement.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage" class=""><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;">“absolutely positively”</span></a><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> to commit to sharing technology and access to any COVID-19 vaccine developed in the US, during an </span><a href="https://youtu.be/V4CLoiA3vfQ?t=1118" class=""><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;">interview with Ady Barkan. At the time you said, </span></a><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">“It’s the only humane thing in the world to do. It's not only a good thing to do, it's overwhelmingly in our interest to do it as well.” We are asking you to deliver on that promise. <o:p class=""></o:p></span></div></div></div></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class=""><div class="" style="margin: 0in -0.1in 0.0001pt -4.5pt;"> </div></div></div></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class=""><div class="" style="margin: 0in -11.7pt 0.0001pt -4.5pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Thus, </span><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">we respectfully request that you break with the unconscionable policies Trump supported and, </span><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">before the next WTO General Council meeting March 1-2, announce that the United States will no longer oppose the temporary, emergency COVID-19 WTO waiver of certain TRIPS provisions. We also request that your administration inform our trade partners that the United States will apply the same temporary, emergency waiver of the same intellectual property rules included in U.S. bilateral and regional trade agreements for COVID-19 vaccines, testing and treatments. <o:p class=""></o:p></span></div></div></div></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class=""><div class="" style="margin: 0in -0.1in 0.0001pt -4.5pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div></div></div></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class=""><div class="" style="margin: 0in -0.1in 0.0001pt -4.5pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Sincerely,</span></div></div></div></div></blockquote><br class=""><br class="">
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