<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=""><div class="">Here’s Senator Sanders’ video:<div class=""><a href="https://vimeo.com/521918132/70fcc7d224" class="">https://vimeo.com/521918132/70fcc7d224</a></div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/03/11/we-need-peoples-vaccine-not-profit-vaccine-sanders-urges-biden-support-push-suspend?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=twitter" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);" class="">https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/03/11/we-need-peoples-vaccine-not-profit-vaccine-sanders-urges-biden-support-push-suspend?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=twitter</a><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 12pt;" class=""><b class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(51, 102, 153);" class="">'We Need a People's Vaccine, Not a Profit Vaccine': Sanders Urges Biden to Support Push to Suspend Pharma Patents<o:p class=""></o:p></span></b></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">By Jake Johnson<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;" class="">3/11/21</span></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> </span></div><p class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont on Wednesday urged President Joe Biden to support an India and South Africa-led effort at the World Trade Organization to temporarily suspend coronavirus vaccine-related intellectual property rights in order to facilitate speedy global production and distribution of the life-saving shots—a proposal backed by <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/03/09/70-us-supports-removing-vaccine-patents-sharing-recipes-globally-bring-pandemic-end" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 153);" class="">nearly 70% of U.S. adults</span></a> and more than 100 nations worldwide.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; text-decoration-thickness: initial;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">"It is unconscionable that amid a global health crisis, huge multibillion dollar pharmaceutical companies continue to prioritize profits by protecting their monopolies and driving up prices rather than prioritizing the lives of people everywhere, including in the Global South," Sanders said in a video released Wednesday as part of a global virtual "Rally for a People's Vaccine."</span><b class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></b></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; text-decoration-thickness: initial;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">In order to ramp up coronavirus vaccine production to meet global need and distribute doses "as quickly as humanly possible," Sanders said "the United States should play a major role in promoting global cooperation and innovation." At present, the U.S.—along with other wealthy nations where major pharmaceutical companies are based—is blocking India and South Africa's push for a patent waiver, which <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/03/04/outrageous-says-sanders-after-corporate-lobby-calls-sharing-vaccine-recipe-worlds" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 153);" class="">industry lobbying groups are mobilizing to crush</span></a>.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; text-decoration-thickness: initial;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">"Our government has invested enormous sums of taxpayer dollars into the production of these technologies. All people should benefit, not just a few already obscenely wealthy CEOs and shareholders in the wealthiest country on Earth," said the Vermont senator. "We need a People's Vaccine, not a Profit Vaccine."<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; text-decoration-thickness: initial;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">Less than a week after the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), a leading industry lobbying organization, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-wto-vaccines-expla/explainer-activists-drug-groups-split-over-suspending-covid-19-shot-patents-idUSKBN2B2285" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 153);" class="">called</span></a> on Biden to uphold U.S. opposition to the patent-waiver proposal, Sanders said Wednesday that he is sending a letter to the president demanding his support for the plan "so that we can rapidly expand supplies of vaccines" without the constraints imposed by pharma monopolies.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; text-decoration-thickness: initial;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">"Ending this pandemic requires collaboration, solidarity, and empathy. It requires a very different mindset—a mindset that puts people over profits at every turn," Sanders said. "The pharmaceutical companies must not block this effort, and I join you in your request to temporarily waive WTO intellectual property protections on Covid-19 medical technologies during the pandemic."<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; text-decoration-thickness: initial;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">Watch:<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; text-decoration-thickness: initial;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">Sanders' remarks came ahead of a global "Free the Vaccine" day of action Thursday wherein medical professionals, scientists, and progressive activists are planning to rally at Moderna headquarters in Massachusetts, PhRMA headquarters in Washington, D.C., Pfizer headquarters in New York City, and other locations to pressure Biden to support the proposed intellectual property waiver. A WTO council is <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-wto-vaccines-expla/explainer-activists-drug-groups-split-over-suspending-covid-19-shot-patents-idUSKBN2B2285" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 153);" class="">meeting</span></a> to discuss the proposal this week.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; text-decoration-thickness: initial;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">Without ambitious action to free vaccine recipes from the pharmaceutical industry's stranglehold, activists and experts have warned, most poor nations will not achieve sufficient inoculation against the deadly virus until as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jan/27/most-poor-nations-will-take-until-2024-to-achieve-mass-covid-19-immunisation" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 153);" class="">late as 2024</span></a> as rich countries continue to hoard much of the existing supply.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; text-decoration-thickness: initial;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">According to a <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/03/10/doses-hoarded-us-uk-and-eu-could-vaccinate-adults-20-countries-facing-worst" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 153);" class="">new analysis</span></a> by the International Rescue Committee, excess vaccine doses bought up by the U.S., United Kingdom, and European Union could inoculate every adult in Yemen, Ethiopia, and other nations facing horrific humanitarian crises.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; text-decoration-thickness: initial;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">"Around the world, two and a half million lives have already been lost due to this brutal disease and many countries are battling without adequate medical care and no vaccines," Gabriela Bucher, executive director of Oxfam International, said in a <a href="https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/rich-nations-vaccinating-one-person-every-second-while-majority-poorest-nations-are" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 153);" class="">statement</span></a> Wednesday. "By allowing a small group of pharmaceutical companies to decide who lives and who dies, rich nations are prolonging this unprecedented global health emergency and putting countless more lives on the line."<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; text-decoration-thickness: initial;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">"At this crucial time," said Bucher, "developing countries need support—not opposition."</span></p><div class="">
Arthur Stamoulis<br class="">Citizens Trade Campaign<br class="">(202) 494-8826<br class=""><br class=""><br class=""><br class="">
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