G20: Shame Johnson into action on vaccine patents

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Hi John,

Today, Boris Johnson heads to Italy for a G20 summit where the international response to Covid-19 will be high on the list of talking points. Unfortunately, talking is just about all the UK government has been doing recently.

It’s likely that Johnson and the leaders of other rich countries will court approving headlines by hyping up their vaccine donation commitments. But the stark truth is that the UK has delivered less than 10% of its pledged 100 million donations to countries in the global south. And even if it were to donate the remaining 90% tomorrow, this would still make a tiny improvement to a situation where only 3% of people in low-income countries have received a single jab.

This video made during the our UK day of shame action explains very clearly why Johnson’s actions are responsible for thousands of deaths. Can you help keep up the pressure on Johnson by sharing this with your friends?

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Donations aren’t working: an intellectual property waiver will work

It’s clear to anyone watching closely that efforts based on vaccine donations are not enough to ensure people in the global south receive vaccines. Systemic change is needed, starting with a waiver on patents for Covid vaccines and treatments.

Big Pharma has called the waiver proposal ‘nonsense’ and argued, with frankly racist overtones, that countries in the global south don’t have the capacity to make their vaccine. But the New York Times reported this week that there are at least 10 factories ready to take on the task across the global south. A waiver could turbo-charge production – and break corporate monopolies.

The British government has been central to blocking progress on this issue, issuing weasel words and false solutions in response to the demands of countries in the global south. This month, we carried coffins to Downing Street to make sure Johnson understands his complicity in mounting Covid deaths.

As Boris Johnson continues to side with Big Pharma, let’s shame him into action.

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Stalling is costing lives

Since India and South Africa proposed the waiver over a year ago, the UK has stood by as over a hundred countries moved to support it. Their failure to back the waiver serves as an effective veto. The government’s position is ideological, serving to protect Big Pharma profits over the lives of millions of people who are yet to receive their first jab.

We are nearly two years into the pandemic now and it’s almost a year since the first vaccine dose was given in the UK. Meanwhile, 10,000 people are dying every day because of the government’s failure to get behind a waiver of intellectual property rules and allow poorer countries to produce for themselves. Each day the government stalls on this issue serves to prolong the pandemic.

The government must change course.

Thank you for your support,

Tim Bierley

Pharma campaigner at Global Justice Now

Moderna won't share its vaccine recipe. WHO has hired an African startup to crack it - NPR, 19 October 2021

Here’s Why Developing Countries Can Make mRNA Covid Vaccines - New York Times, 22 October 2021 (paywall – limited free articles/month)

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