The US has moved on vaccine access, now it's up to the UK

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Hi John,

Six months ago, the first Covid-19 vaccine was administered in the UK.

While rich countries like the UK, US and EU have bought up enough doses to vaccinate their entire populations nearly three times over by the end of 2021, countries in the global south will have to wait till 2024 for widespread vaccination.

It doesn’t have to be that way – suspending intellectual property rules for Covid-19 vaccines and patents could help to ramp up production and vaccination around the world.

Yet the UK is blocking this proposal.

Tell the UK government to drop the patents

The proposal by the governments of India and South Africa supported by over 100 mostly low and middle-income nations could help unlock the world’s capacity to make Covid-19 vaccines, allowing capable factories currently sitting idle to produce Covid-19 vaccines, rapidly upscaling production.

Even the US administration now backs the proposal, leaving a handful of rich countries including the UK to continue to defend the indefensible.

Our polling shows UK voters overwhelmingly support a more equitable vaccine access, with 74% (and 73% Tory voters) agreeing that the government should prevent specific companies having monopolies on Covid-19 jabs. [1]

If you agree we should be protecting lives not profits, take action today!

Email the UK government today

Thank you for your support

Best wishes,

Alena Ivanova
Campaigner at Global Justice Now

PS. A big thank you everyone who took part in our actions around the AstraZeneca AGM on Tuesday. Read a full round-up of what happened here.

NOTES

[1] An average of 7 in 10 across G7 countries think their governments should force big pharma to share vaccine know-how

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.

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