Over 900,000 individuals from around the world have signed a petition calling for universal access to affordable COVID-19 vaccines.
The petition was delivered virtually by Avaaz, a global online citizen movement, to the WTO on 9th December 2020.
The petition asks all governments, WTO members, and pharmaceutical companies to “ensure access to lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines, treatments, and equipment for everyone in the world”.
“As global citizens, we call on you to urgently ensure access to lifesaving Covid-19 vaccines, treatments, and equipment for everyone in the world. Patents should be lifted, technological knowledge shared freely and openly, and no profiteering allowed during this pandemic. Governments, scientists, and pharmaceutical companies must cooperate and combine resources to ensure no one is left behind. The pandemic will not be over until it’s over everywhere.”
The petition was submitted ahead of a meeting on 10 December of the Council for Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), where WTO members intend to continue discussions on a proposal to waive certain obligations in the TRIPS Agreement concerning the prevention, containment, or treatment of COVID-19. Considerable differences remain between members over this proposal.
Bernard Kuiten, the WTO’s Head of External Relations, received the petition on behalf of the organization. He expressed his appreciation for the time that Avaaz has dedicated to the issue and thanked the organization for its interest in the WTO and for giving citizens worldwide a global platform to express their concerns. He also said that to leave this devastating pandemic behind us, international cooperation and coordination are crucial.
In a related development, a new report by the People’s Vaccine Alliance has found that as many as 90 percent of the population in dozens of “poor countries” will miss out on the coronavirus vaccine next year because most of the supply has already been taken by rich nations.
The WTO further pointed out that aside from the debate among its members on the specific proposal for a waiver to the TRIPS Agreement, the WTO Secretariat has been active in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. This has included gathering information on the range of trade policy responses put in place by governments around the globe and promoting transparency and dialogue on the range of measures taken.
In the area of intellectual property and TRIPS, the WTO has been guided by the letter and spirit of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, which confirmed that the TRIPS Agreement must be framed in the context of making a positive contribution to addressing public health problems. Technical assistance for WTO members has focused on strengthening domestic capacity to assess and implement all policy options open to them.
The WTO has also joined forces with the World Health Organization and the World Intellectual Property Organization to produce an updated edition of “Promoting Access to Medical Technologies and Innovation“. This publication promotes integrated health, trade, and IP approach to the COVID-19 pandemic and looks at the collaboration between the three organizations in providing technical assistance and policy support to its member governments.
Read also: Poor countries left behind as rich ‘hoard vaccine’
