<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="">The Delta variant shows the risk both domestically and internationally of continued failure to address global vaccine production needs. Thankfully, the political possibilities in Europe surrounding the TRIPS waiver are about to be blown wide open with Chancellor Merkel’s departure. A comprehensive waiver agreement is a real possibility this year, but it will require continued pushing — particularly from our own government. If you haven’t already, </i><a href="https://citizenstrade.salsalabs.org/zients/index.html?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=a7567af2-bdb2-4f56-a7f8-f3274292974e" class=""><i class="">please sign & share this petition.</i></a><div class=""><div class=""><br class="">
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<div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">Begin forwarded message:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);" class=""><b class="">From: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">Lori Wallach<br class=""></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);" class=""><b class="">Subject: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">Why German waiver position will move FW: Bloomberg: Merkel’s Bloc Drops for Second Straight Week in German Poll</b><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);" class=""><b class="">Date: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">August 16, 2021 at 9:56:44 AM EDT</span></div><br class=""><div class=""><div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><i class="">[Our German counterparts have a major campaign underway to ensure that when the SPD and Greens form a coalition govt with the CSU, lifting the waiver bloc is a coalition formation condition.]<o:p class=""></o:p></i></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><i class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></i></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><b class=""><i class="">Bloomberg<o:p class=""></o:p></i></b></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><i class=""><span style="font-size: 14pt;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></i></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><b class=""><span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Merkel’s Bloc Drops for Second Straight Week in German Poll<o:p class=""></o:p></span></b></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">By Tony Czuczka<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-14/merkel-s-bloc-declines-for-second-straight-week-in-german-poll?sref=vxSzVDP0&utm_source=dailybrief&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DailyBrief2021Aug16&utm_term=DailyNewsBrief" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193); text-decoration: underline;" class="">https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-14/merkel-s-bloc-declines-for-second-straight-week-in-german-poll?sref=vxSzVDP0&utm_source=dailybrief&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DailyBrief2021Aug16&utm_term=DailyNewsBrief</a><o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">8/15/2021<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party bloc declined for a second consecutive week in a poll that suggests the Social Democrats are gaining ground ahead of Germany’s election in six weeks’ time.<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">The Social Democratic Party, which hasn’t held the chancellor’s office since 2005, pulled ahead of the Greens for the first time in a year in the weekly Insa poll, Bild am Sonntag reported. Support for the SPD rose 2 percentage points to 20%, while Merkel’s Christian Democratic-led bloc fell 1 point to 25%, its lowest level since late May.<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">Support for the Greens was unchanged at 18% and the Free Democrats were steady at 12%. The latest numbers suggest a possible post-election coalition led by the SPD with the Greens and Free Democrats as partners.<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, the SPD’s candidate for chancellor in the Sept. 26 federal election, is proving more popular than Armin Laschet, the head of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union and her would-be successor. Merkel isn’t running for another term after 16 years in office.<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">If the chancellor were elected directly rather than by a vote of parliament, Scholz would receive 29%, an increase of 2 points from a week earlier, compared with 15% for Laschet, according to the poll.<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">“I think we can achieve a result of well over 20%” and form a government, Scholz said in an interview on ARD German public television on Sunday, citing Social-Democrat-led coalitions in Scandinavian countries with similar percentage shares. “I want to be the next chancellor.”<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-14/merkel-s-faltering-heir-upends-germany-s-election-predictability" target="_blank" title="Merkel’s Faltering Heir Upends Germany’s Election Predictability (1)" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193); text-decoration: underline;" class="">Read more: Merkel’s Faltering Heir Erodes Germany’s Election Predictability</a><o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">The Aug. 9-13 party preference poll of 1,450 people has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.<o:p class=""></o:p></div></div></div></blockquote></div><br class=""></div></body></html>