Thread by @astroehlein

India's total COVID death toll passes 300,000 - after adding 50,000 deaths in under 2 weeks…
euobserver.com/tickers/151929

For over 7 months, the EU has blocked India & S. Africa's proposal to boost vaccine production globally through the #TRIPSwaiver…
hrw.org/news/2021/03/2…

The European Citizens Initiative supporting wider vaccine production globally & a quicker end to the pandemic is nearing 200,000 signatures...

Please SIGN and SHARE it:
bit.ly/3tFgvDV

If the US can drop Trump's deadly, profits-first policy, the EU surely can, too.

Honestly? They're going to spend time arguing about 100 million doses? The world needs more than 11 billion doses, and EU policy is to throttle wider production globally, so it will take years to vaccinate everyone. They think we don't understand maths?

https://twitter.com/DaveKeating/status/1397099314577645568

If EU leaders are now going to try to shift attention (and later, no doubt, blame) to COVAX, it would be good for everyone to understand that COVAX's severe limitations are well-known.

Thread...

https://twitter.com/astroehlein/status/1392070264926703617

Some EU leaders want people to think that COVAX will answer the problems of vaccine inequity & slow global vaccine rollout.

It won't.

It can't.

This is a distraction by these EU leaders to try to make you not question their failing, profits-first approach to the pandemic.

And here's the thing: these EU leaders know full well that their policy is failing.

They know that 100 million is tiny compared to 11 billion.

And yet, they put on a show of an argument, hoping it will fool people that they are really trying to do something when they are not.

Their top priority is to keep pharma profits as high as they can be, and helping companies limit production is central to that goal. (low supply + high demand = high price)

The Commission will hardly even meet with anyone who thinks differently.
corporateeurope.org/en/2021/05/com…

"We'll make a small donation to the poor" may sound nice, but it is the tiniest of fig leaves, hiding nothing of the billions in profits the EU is helping private companies rake in.

Those familiar with European colonialism may notice a trend here...

The EU policy of blocking wider vaccine production globally is prolonging the pandemic, meaning:

⬛️ More death;

⬛️ More economic disruption;

⬛️ More chances for new virus variants to emerge that are more deadly, more virulent and/or resistant to current vaccines.

EU policy makers know this.

They know a longer pandemic means more time for new variants to emerge that will boomerang back on EU citizens as well.

NGO's tell them: oxfam.org/en/press-relea…

Even big pharma tells them: cnbc.com/2021/04/15/pfi…

In short, EU policy makers know full well their policy will cost countless lives around the world & in the EU...

...yet they continue to obey the pharma companies' demands, because their friends' profits must come above all else, even human lives, even Europeans' lives.

This is where the pharma companies want us.

This is where EU leaders are keeping us.

Insufficient vaccine rollout means big profits for them, death & suffering for everyone else.

"By putting corporate interests ahead of the public interest, the EU is doing lasting damage to its reputation, both locally & on the global stage."

- @rosapavanelli of @PSIglobalunion calls on the EU to support Covid patent waivers
euobserver.com/opinion/151920