On Wednesday, the Biden administration announced its support for temporarily waiving intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines.

To put that in plain English:

The U.S. government is joining the push for sharing how to make vaccines with the whole world.

I’m proud to say that Public Citizen has been working for this since the outset of the pandemic.

Because ending the global coronavirus pandemic is — of course — more important than securing further profits for Big Pharma.

Many people in developing countries won’t have access to vaccines until 2024 if a few pharmaceutical companies maintain monopoly control over production. That means we can’t end the pandemic unless vaccine production is greatly and quickly expanded around the world.

But there is more work to do to make the waiver effective (and the pharma giants will do everything they can to fight it):

• The language of an international agreement still has to be worked out to enact the waiver.

• That deal must also temporarily waive intellectual property barriers for coronavirus testing and treatments, not only for vaccines.

• A few holdout countries still need to agree to the waiver.

(And then there’s still more to do, in addition to winning the waiver, before more vaccine gets into arms worldwide and more people ravaged by COVID-19 can get medicines to save them.)

Join Public Citizen in sending this message to President Biden:

Thank you for supporting a temporary waiver on intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines. We urge you to extend that waiver to testing and treatments as well. To keep all of us safe, we are relying on you to bring all countries together and get this done as fast as humanly possible.

Add your name.

Thanks for taking action.

Stay safe.

- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen

P.S. For half a century, Public Citizen has been advancing policies that put the needs of everyday Americans before the greed of billionaires and Big Business. That legacy of progress and that ongoing work could not matter more right now, as our nation transitions to a Joe Biden presidency that will be as progressive as we — you and Public Citizen, together — make it. We’re also busy undoing all the damage Trump did. And, like so many nonprofits and small businesses, we continue to experience financial strain related to the coronavirus pandemic. If you can, please make an emergency donation today to support the critical work we’re doing together or even join our popular Monthly Giving program. Thank you.
 
 
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