Hi John,
Back in October 2020, the world watched with hope as the global scientific community looked set to deliver effective vaccines to combat Covid-19. Even at this early stage countries like India and South Africa knew that vaccine inequality would be inevitable if corporate interests were put ahead of human lives.
So to ensure the most widespread production of Covid-19 vaccines, treatments and equipment possible, those two countries brought a proposal to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to suspend patent rules during the pandemic.
This week, the WTO General Council was supposed to issue a statement on the waiver proposal. But this has been postponed for at least 3 months because governments like our own are obstructing the negotiations.
This deliberate inaction is a moral disgrace. Since the waiver was originally proposed, over 3 million people have lost their lives to Covid-19. That’s why we have been tirelessly campaigning for the need to lift the patents on lifesaving Covid-19 vaccines.
Vaccine apartheid is an issue the whole world is talking about, and over 100 countries of the global south, as well as the US and several other rich countries, are now supporting the waiver proposal. We now need your help to grow this campaign, gain momentum and build on the progress we have already made. You can help by joining as a member today.
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The world can’t wait. Less than 1% of Covid-19 vaccines have gone to low-income countries. Only 1.5% of Africa’s population has had a shot. And manufacturing facilities are sitting idle – in Bangladesh, Pakistan, South Africa and many other countries – there are factories right now keen to start producing the vaccines we need.
The next meeting of the WTO Council is in October. We could lose another million lives in the meantime and there is still no guarantee a decision would be made then.
Our campaign has been picked up by the media all over the world and we have to continue to raise public awareness in this way, share our findings with key decision makers and keep up the pressure on our government to back the waiver. At the same time we need to build our movement against vaccine apartheid through mobilising activists and reaching out to grassroots organisations.
Now is the time to step up our campaign. Together, we can challenge corporate power and make world leaders listen to us. Millions of people across the world have signed petitions and joined our call to support a people’s vaccine. With your help, we can take it further.
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While there have been international efforts to donate surplus doses or fund schemes to guarantee fair and equitable access for every country in the world, to date only 147 million vaccine doses have been made available, far fewer than the original target of 2 billion by the end of 2021. Shockingly, Britain has binned more vaccines than we have donated or exported.
Meanwhile, the profits are rolling in for some of the Big Pharma companies. The vaccines have created 9 new billionaires - with a combined net wealth of $19 billion. Just two of the successful vaccines are set to become the bestselling pharmaceutical products in the world, with projected revenues in 2021 alone of $60 billion.
And not only are some pharmaceutical companies raking in the profits, they have all benefited from huge amounts of public funding in developing those vaccines. However, none of them have joined C-TAP, the know-how pool the World Health Organisation started with the hope companies and governments will collaborate on vaccines and therapeutics.
This is a story of greed and inaction. While Big Pharma is allowed to expand its ‘vibrant vaccine business’, Boris Johnson, Germany’s Angela Merkel and others have turned their back on the rest of the world. This pandemic will not be truly over until everyone is safe.
Join as a member today and be part of a movement that will take power away from corporations to save lives not profits.
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Thank you for everything you do for our campaigns.
Alena Ivanova
Campaigner at Global Justice Now
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