<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class=""><i class="">The letter mentioned is attached.</i></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/activists-urge-biden-push-intellectual-property-waiver-covid-19-vaccines-2021-11-22/" class="">https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/activists-urge-biden-push-intellectual-property-waiver-covid-19-vaccines-2021-11-22/</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="ArticleHeader__heading___3ibi0Q" style="grid-column-start: 3; grid-column-end: span 5; grid-row-start: 1; grid-row-end: span 2; min-height: 140px; line-height: 1.125; display: flex; flex-direction: column; position: relative; z-index: 3; font-family: -webkit-standard;"><h1 class="Text__heading_2___sUlNJP Text__text___3eVx1j Text__dark-grey___AS2I_p Text__medium___1ocDap Heading__base___1dDlXY Heading__heading_2___3f_bIW" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.14; letter-spacing: 0px; font-size: 48px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: knowledge-medium, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 500; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);">Activists urge Biden to push for intellectual property waiver for COVID-19 vaccines</h1></div><div class="Text__text___3eVx1j Text__dark-grey___AS2I_p Text__medium___1ocDap ArticleHeader__author___Q1-tGb Text__small___MoVgdT" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1; font-size: medium; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: knowledge-medium, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); grid-column-start: 3; grid-column-end: span 6; grid-row-start: 3; grid-row-end: auto; position: relative; z-index: 2;">By <a rel="author" class="AuthorName__author___1tcHiY" style="display: inline; color: inherit; line-height: 1.5;">Andrea Shalal</a></div><div class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div class=""><p data-testid="paragraph-0" class="Body__base___25kqPt Text__dark-grey___AS2I_p Text__large___1i0u1F Text__text___3eVx1j Body__large_body___3g04wK Text__regular___Bh17t- ArticleBody__element___3UrnEs" style="margin: 0px 0px 2.22222vw; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6; font-size: 20px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: knowledge-regular, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); max-width: 720px;">WASHINGTON, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Fifteen human rights groups are urging U.S. President Joe Biden to get personally engaged in a long-running fight to enact an intellectual property waiver for COVID-19 vaccines at the World Trade Organization, calling his leadership "a moral necessity."</p><p data-testid="paragraph-1" class="Body__base___25kqPt Text__dark-grey___AS2I_p Text__large___1i0u1F Text__text___3eVx1j Body__large_body___3g04wK Text__regular___Bh17t- ArticleBody__element___3UrnEs" style="margin: 2.22222vw 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6; font-size: 20px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: knowledge-regular, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); max-width: 720px;">Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Oxfam, Public Citizen and 11 other groups told Biden in a letter that an emergency waiver was urgently needed to combat the pandemic, noting that fewer than 7% of people in low-income countries had received a first COVID-19 vaccine and vaccines remained scarce.</p></div><div class=""><p data-testid="paragraph-2" class="Body__base___25kqPt Text__dark-grey___AS2I_p Text__large___1i0u1F Text__text___3eVx1j Body__large_body___3g04wK Text__regular___Bh17t- ArticleBody__element___3UrnEs" style="margin: 2.22222vw 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6; font-size: 20px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: knowledge-regular, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); max-width: 720px;">More than 5.4 million people have died of <a href="https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps" target="_blank" class="Text__text___3eVx1j Text__dark-grey___AS2I_p Text__medium___1ocDap Text__large___1i0u1F Link__underline_default___MkI7S8" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1; letter-spacing: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: knowledge-medium, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);">COVID-19 around the world</a> since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.</p><p data-testid="paragraph-3" class="Body__base___25kqPt Text__dark-grey___AS2I_p Text__large___1i0u1F Text__text___3eVx1j Body__large_body___3g04wK Text__regular___Bh17t- ArticleBody__element___3UrnEs" style="margin: 2.22222vw 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6; font-size: 20px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: knowledge-regular, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); max-width: 720px;">Biden reversed the previous U.S. position to endorse a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/biden-says-plans-back-wto-waiver-vaccines-2021-05-05" target="_blank" class="Text__text___3eVx1j Text__dark-grey___AS2I_p Text__medium___1ocDap Text__large___1i0u1F Link__underline_default___MkI7S8" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1; letter-spacing: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: knowledge-medium, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);">waiver in May</a>, a move that caught some allies by surprise, but there has been little progress since then. The European Union, Britain and Switzerland remain opposed, arguing that issuing such waivers would undercut years of investment and research.</p></div><div class=""><p data-testid="paragraph-4" class="Body__base___25kqPt Text__dark-grey___AS2I_p Text__large___1i0u1F Text__text___3eVx1j Body__large_body___3g04wK Text__regular___Bh17t- ArticleBody__element___3UrnEs" style="margin: 2.22222vw 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6; font-size: 20px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: knowledge-regular, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); max-width: 720px;">The White House last month called on <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/white-house-wto-members-must-support-intellectual-property-waiver-covid-vaccines-2021-10-21" target="_blank" class="Text__text___3eVx1j Text__dark-grey___AS2I_p Text__medium___1ocDap Text__large___1i0u1F Link__underline_default___MkI7S8" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1; letter-spacing: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: knowledge-medium, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);">all WTO members to support a temporary waiver</a> and WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is pushing for a deal at the WTO ministerial conference in Geneva from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3.</p><p data-testid="paragraph-5" class="Body__base___25kqPt Text__dark-grey___AS2I_p Text__large___1i0u1F Text__text___3eVx1j Body__large_body___3g04wK Text__regular___Bh17t- ArticleBody__element___3UrnEs" style="margin: 2.22222vw 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6; font-size: 20px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: knowledge-regular, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); max-width: 720px;">In their letter, a copy of which was viewed by Reuters, the rights groups said they were "very disappointed" that the Biden administration had not done more to secure an agreement on a waiver text since Biden's strong statement in May.</p></div><div class=""><p data-testid="paragraph-6" class="Body__base___25kqPt Text__dark-grey___AS2I_p Text__large___1i0u1F Text__text___3eVx1j Body__large_body___3g04wK Text__regular___Bh17t- ArticleBody__element___3UrnEs" style="margin: 2.22222vw 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6; font-size: 20px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: knowledge-regular, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); max-width: 720px;">"U.S. passivity has empowered close U.S. allies - the European Union, on behalf of Germany, plus Switzerland and the United Kingdom - to block progress even as millions die or become seriously ill waiting for effective vaccines and treatments," the groups wrote.</p><p data-testid="paragraph-7" class="Body__base___25kqPt Text__dark-grey___AS2I_p Text__large___1i0u1F Text__text___3eVx1j Body__large_body___3g04wK Text__regular___Bh17t- ArticleBody__element___3UrnEs" style="margin: 2.22222vw 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6; font-size: 20px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: knowledge-regular, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); max-width: 720px;">They urged Biden to step up his personal engagement and lead the world in reaching a meaningful agreement on the long-standing issue. Doing so would help end the pandemic and restore U.S. standing around the world, they said.</p><p data-testid="paragraph-8" class="Body__base___25kqPt Text__dark-grey___AS2I_p Text__large___1i0u1F Text__text___3eVx1j Body__large_body___3g04wK Text__regular___Bh17t- ArticleBody__element___3UrnEs" style="margin: 2.22222vw 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6; font-size: 20px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: knowledge-regular, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); max-width: 720px;">The White House had no immediate comment on the letter, which was dated Friday.</p><p data-testid="paragraph-9" class="Body__base___25kqPt Text__dark-grey___AS2I_p Text__large___1i0u1F Text__text___3eVx1j Body__large_body___3g04wK Text__regular___Bh17t- ArticleBody__element___3UrnEs" style="margin: 2.22222vw 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6; font-size: 20px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: knowledge-regular, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); max-width: 720px;">Ending the ministerial meeting without a waiver agreement would be entirely unacceptable," the groups said. They said drugmakers were using their intellectual property rights to segment global markets instead of maximizing the scale of generic production.</p><p data-testid="paragraph-10" class="Body__base___25kqPt Text__dark-grey___AS2I_p Text__large___1i0u1F Text__text___3eVx1j Body__large_body___3g04wK Text__regular___Bh17t- ArticleBody__element___3UrnEs" style="margin: 2.22222vw 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6; font-size: 20px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: knowledge-regular, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); max-width: 720px;">They said a separate effort to issue a "declaration on trade and health" led by David Walker, the New Zealand envoy to the WTO, would "further undermine the WTO's relevance and legitimacy" in the absence of a meaningful property rights waiver.</p></div><div class="">
Arthur Stamoulis<br class="">Citizens Trade Campaign<br class="">(202) 494-8826<br class=""><br class=""><br class=""></div></body></html>