Thread by @mark__rountree

GOOD has welcomed wider international calls from experts for TRIPS Waiver to enable faster vaccine supplies.

#TRIPSwaiver
@ForGOODza

research.kent.ac.uk/socril/wp-cont…

An open letter from more than 100 international experts has provided academic justification and support for a proposal to enable wider Covid-19 vaccine production and access. The proposal is currently being negotiated at the World Trade Organisation.

The international experts are lobbying the UK, Australia, Brazil, Japan, Norway, Switzerland and the EU to support the temporary TRIPS waiver that has been proposed by South Africa and India.

The worldwide limited supply of vaccines - especially to middle and lower income nations - is a concern that GOOD has been raising for months.

The experts explain that a temporary TRIPS waiver is justified because of …

“unprecedented public funding and de-risking of R&D costs through advance market commitments by governments”. A temporary suspension of TRIPS Agreement “is crucial to enable a radical increase in manufacturing capacity, and thus supply, of COVID-19 vaccines” around the world.

“Vaccine supply failure is a failure of global leadership” said @ForGOODza’s @brettherron. “Access to adequate health care, including a vaccine against Covid, is a human right that no country, or pharmaceutical company, should be in a position to deny”

forgood.org.za/sahpra-vac/