Amid the ongoing global scarcity of vaccines, the European Commission only meets with big pharma & its allies.
No one who questions pharma's monopoly on patents is allowed in.
This Commission is dedicated to boosting pharma profits, not saving lives.
corporateeurope.org/en/2021/05/com…
Look, I mean, I get it. It's fun to meet with rich and powerful CEOs. It makes you feel more powerful and important yourself.
But, @EU_commission, is your job simply to make the rich richer? To help the powerful become even more powerful while billions of the powerless suffer?
The @EU_commission unquestioningly accepts and parrots every debunked argument that the pharma companies feed them.
It's embarrassing.
And deadly.
We're over 4 months into global rollout new, and only 4% of the world has been vaccinated.
It's estimated that 70% is needed for herd immunity, so at this rate, it will take years.
We all know that the EU's favoured approach - putting pharma profits first - is not working.
We all know the problem is vaccine scarcity.
We all know we need greater production capacity.
Yet the EU, UK & a dwindling few other governments on the wrong side of history continue to insist on blocking wider vaccine production globally by obstructing the #TRIPSwaiver.
Repeating pharma PR, EU leaders say it would take time to bring new production online.
But they have been blocking it for 7 months now.
We could be 7 months ahead of where we are today, if rich governments had listened to experts when the waiver was first proposed in October.
October - when the #TRIPSwaiver was formally proposed - was over 2 million COVID deaths ago...
worldometers.info/coronavirus/
Experts say it would take 3-4 months to bring new production online, but even if it took 7 months and no deaths since October could have been saved by it, you have to look ahead. Deaths & suffering & economic disruption keep coming…
And we're 7 months behind where we could be.
The EU, UK & a few others are prolonging the pandemic, perhaps thinking a longer global pandemic won't matter as long as they vaccinate their own people.
But the profits-first approach is both selfish & self-destructive. Time is not on our side.
oxfam.org/en/press-relea…
Devastation in India today: hrw.org/news/2021/05/1…
Looming disaster in Nepal tomorrow: hrw.org/news/2021/05/1…
Who's next?
This is very much the danger.
I think we're already seeing it, in fact...
The EU policy towards the global pandemic - helping to restrict vaccine production to maximise profits for the pharma companies - will keep us all in this eternal loop of death and economic disruption.
➡️ Short-sighted.
➡️ Selfish.
➡️ Self-destructive.
Please:
1⃣ Get vaccinated if you can.
‼️ But realise this isn't enough.
2⃣ Pressure your government to support wider vaccine production globally.
SIGN & SHARE these official petitions…
🇬🇧 UK citizens: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/5640…
🇪🇺 EU citizens: noprofitonpandemic.eu
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