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Andrew Stroehlein Profile picture
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6 May, 10 tweets, 5 min read
People around the world facing the devastation of the Covid-19 pandemic have reason to feel more hopeful today.

The US has announced support for waiving intellectual property rules on vaccines until widespread vaccination is in place globally.

hrw.org/news/2021/05/0…
The Biden Administration’s promise to “actively participate” in negotiations on the #TRIPSwaiver is worth celebrating.

It could be a breakthrough for human rights.

Advocates and organizations around the world have worked hard for this.
The Biden administration has put itself on the right side of history.

Australia has now also flipped, happily.

Now we wait to see if the other opposing governments, like the UK, Japan, and the EU, will too.
Nearly every morning for the past 2 months, I've been tweeting the same map showing a group of mostly rich governments blocking wider vaccine production globally...

Now that group is collapsing, and the map is changing quickly...

And the EU is looking increasingly isolated...
The US has flipped to the right side of history: nytimes.com/2021/05/05/us/…

Australia too: theaustralian.com.au/subscribe/news…

Hello, EU? UK? Norway? Switzerland? Just waiting for you too now...

Time for you to also understand that a global pandemic requires global solutions.
👉 For me, this is really the most hopeful news since this horrific global pandemic began. It's even bigger than the (publicly funded) development of the vaccines - because this now means people around the world may actually get the vaccines, and jabs won't be limited to the few.
New Zealand is in now too, declaring support for the effort to waive Covid-19 vaccine patents: bit.ly/3nZxpeY

Updated map.
Waiting for the @EU_commission to catch up with the news and join the now overwhelming global support for the #TRIPSwaiver...
Dominos indeed!

OK, I'm not changing the map just yet. Here's the exact quote via Reuters...

A small movement in the right direction, but clearly, the EU is still not getting it.

bit.ly/3uqkYej

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More from @astroehlein

Andrew Stroehlein Profile picture
7 May
The EU, UK & a few other governments are determined to continue blocking wider vaccine production globally by obstructing the #TRIPSwaiver at the World Trade Organization.

This means global vaccine shortages will continue.

They will prolong the pandemic. Image
This week saw a dramatic change in US policy, when Biden shifted away from Trump’s profits-first approach to the pandemic.

Australia & New Zealand followed suit.

But the EU - led by Germany - is digging in its heels to back profits over human lives.
bbc.com/news/world-eur… Image
Yes, Trump is gone, but Merkel wants to continue his inhumane legacy.
Read 36 tweets
Andrew Stroehlein Profile picture
6 May
For the 3.2 millionth time: The problem is global vaccine scarcity. Exporting, not exporting - that's just arguing about who gets scarce supplies. It will not increase global production of vaccines.

The #TRIPSwaiver will.

Please, EU, stop blocking it.
Honestly, the EU looks so out of touch now. The argument about sharing scarce vaccines is desperate - everyone knows the EU is blocking wider production of vaccines globally & thus helping to create that scarcity.
But I also don't doubt Matina here that the Commission might keep fighting against the #TRIPSwaiver and keep putting pharma profits first.

Read 5 tweets
Andrew Stroehlein Profile picture
5 May
With the Biden administration thankfully now prioritizing human life over pharma profits…

It's a whole new map!

The EU, UK, Switzerland, Australia, Japan, Brazil & Norway are blocking wider vaccine production globally... and can no longer hide behind the US.

#TRIPSwaiver!
More here:
If the EU Commission doesn't turn around as well asap, they will look even more callous than they have done over the past 7 months of their backing a policy that has literally been prolonging the global pandemic.

#PeoplesVaccine!

bit.ly/3rjWkdb
Read 13 tweets
Andrew Stroehlein Profile picture
5 May
I find it very hard to understand the mentality of people who look at a global pandemic in which millions are dying and say: how can I help powerful corporations make money from this?

And yet, this is exactly what leaders in the EU, US, UK & others have been doing.
These countries' leaders have been blocking wider vaccine production globally by obstructing the #TRIPSwaiver, a proposal at the WTO to temporarily waive some intellectual property rules for medical products.

This creates vaccine scarcity, which drives up prices for the corps.
They may try to fool themselves with nonsense arguments, like:

- Corps need to be incentivised, when in fact, it was billions in our taxes that incentivised them last time.

- The waiver would not instantly lead to new production, when that is in fact an argument against delay
Read 14 tweets
Andrew Stroehlein Profile picture
4 May
Vaccine doses given globally so far (💉=500 million):

💉💉

Amount needed globally (assuming 70% fully vaccinated for herd immunity):

💉💉💉💉💉💉💉💉💉💉
💉💉💉💉💉💉💉💉💉💉
💉💉

Number given so far in low-income countries:

.

Vaccine rollout is too slow & too uneven.
The key reason vaccine rollout is slow & uneven is the shortage of vaccine doses. Not enough are being produced, so rich countries have been fighting each other over scarce supplies, while low income countries beg for scraps and get little or nothing.
nytimes.com/interactive/20…
The rich countries fighting each other over scarce supplies - EU, US, UK, etc - are the very same countries that are creating global vaccine scarcity in the first place.

They are literally blocking wider production of vaccines globally by obstructing the #TRIPSwaiver at the WTO
Read 21 tweets
Andrew Stroehlein Profile picture
3 May
Despite global vaccine shortages, the EU, US, UK and other rich governments continue to block wider vaccine production globally by obstructing the #TRIPSwaiver at the WTO.

But pressure on these governments to stop prioritizing pharma company profits over human lives is growing.
Media attention is only growing...

The flagship @BBCNewsnight had an excellent long piece on the issue at the end of last week:

Even major media outlets that you might generally expect to lean toward the companies' view are producing excellent reporting highlighting the problem.

This from the WSJ, for example: wsj.com/articles/india…
Read 22 tweets

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