One person every second

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Hi John,

Global vaccine inequality continues to spiral. Rich countries are vaccinating one person every second, while the majority of poorer nations are still yet to give a single dose.

“It is a travesty that in some countries health workers and those at-risk groups remain completely unvaccinated,” the WHO director general said yesterday.

The truth is the world could be producing vaccines far faster if big pharma were not protecting its patents, and rich countries were not blocking attempts at the World Trade Organisation to suspend them.

There are vaccine factories lying idle around the world in the midst of this pandemic, because world leaders are putting the pharmaceutical industry’s interests first.

On World Health Day today, can you join our call for a pandemic response that puts public health before private profit?

Suspend patents on Covid-19 vaccines now

Last week it was reported that the Biden administration in the US is considering changing its position on the suspension of patents.

It’s the first sign that our continuing efforts to put this issue on the global political agenda and not shut up about it are bearing fruit.

But we face a race against time to change the course of the pandemic response before it’s too late.

Just this week new research showed that the majority of experts believe existing vaccines could be rendered ineffective within a year by a mutation of the virus, meaning we could all be back to square one. Our leaders’ failure to pull out all the stops to ramp up the global vaccine effort are not just morally wrong, but short-sighted.

The WTO will meet once again in a few weeks to consider South Africa and India’s proposal to suspend patents on Covid-19 vaccines and treatments. It would help ramp up the production of vaccines and end the grotesque situation where rich countries are on track to reach widespread vaccination in a matter of months, while many countries face waiting until 2024.

We must keep up the pressure on governments like the UK to stop blocking this game-changing step. Can you help by adding your name to the petition now?

Suspend patents on Covid-19 vaccines now

Thank you,
Jonathan Stevenson
Campaigner at Global Justice Now

More info

1. Countries urge drug companies to share vaccine know-how, AP, 1 March 2021
2. White House weighs temporarily lifting intellectual property shield on Covid-19 vaccines, CNBC, 26 March 2021
3. Scientists fear emergence of vaccine-evading Covid mutations within next year, Independent, 30 March 2021

Help ensure Covid-19 vaccines are available to everyone, everywhere

It’s vitally important that Covid-19 vaccine patents are suspended during the pandemic, and for big pharma to share their know-how globally, as the best way of ensuring there are enough vaccines for everyone everywhere.

Regular gifts give us the long-term stability to plan effective campaigns and the flexibility to respond to crises like these.

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