Andrew Stroehlein Profile picture
Jul 15, 2021 16 tweets 10 min read Read on X
From the beginning of the pandemic, the EU, UK & other rich governments have been blocking & delaying wider vaccine production globally by obstructing the #TRIPSwaiver, a proposal to temporarily waive some intellectual property rules on vaccines & other health products.

Why?
The EU (led by Germany in this) has produced misinformation & outright lies to defend their deadly policy.

These arguments have been debunked comprehensively:

Again & again:

For a long time:
From the beginning, the EU, UK & others have been ignoring the request of the majority of countries in the world, as well as the advice of public health professionals and medical experts.
Indeed, the #TRIPSwaiver is supported by:

100+ governments: reliefweb.int/report/world/o…

Past presidents & prime ministers and Nobel laureates: project-syndicate.org/commentary/pre…

NGO experts calling for a #PeoplesVaccine: peoplesvaccine.org
The #TRIPSwaiver is also supported by:

Medical experts: thelancet.com/journals/lance…

The head of the World Health Organization: theguardian.com/world/2021/mar…

Hundreds of European lawmakers: hrw.org/news/2021/04/2…

Also:

US lawmakers: thehill.com/policy/healthc…
But the EU arrogantly pretend to know better than all these global voices & all these health experts.

The European Commission is so arrogant that it refuses to even listen to them, meeting almost exclusively with the pharma companies & their lobbyists.
corporateeurope.org/en/2021/05/com…
It's hard to understand the mentality of political leaders who look at a global pandemic in which millions are dying and say:

"How can we help our friends make money from this?"

Yet that's the leaders we have in the EU, UK & a few other places right now.
Even the stark reality that their profits-first approach is so obviously failing won't shift them from their ideology of greed.

💥 Only 12% of the world is vaccinated.

💥 At this rate, it will take years - decades, in fact - to reach everyone.

oxfam.org/en/press-relea…
Our leaders try to convince citizens that the slow pace of global vaccinations doesn't matter - that only vaccinations at home matter - as if humanity is not connected.

It's a deadly lie.

➡️ Grotesquely unfair to the global south.

➡️ Self-destructive for the global north.
The inequality is obvious:

🔸 85% of shots that have gone into arms worldwide have been administered in high- and upper-middle-income countries.

🔸 0.3% of doses have been administered in low-income countries.
nytimes.com/interactive/20…
The self-destructive nature of EU & UK policy is also obvious.

By helping pharma companies limit vaccine production, our leaders are giving the virus more time to produce new variants that could be:

☠️ More deadly.

☠️ More contagious.

☠️ Resistant to current vaccines.
The longer the pandemic, the more chance for the emergence of new variants...

Public health experts have been warning about it: oxfam.org/en/press-relea…

Pharmaceutical companies are "betting" on it: bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
There's some evidence that the efficacy of vaccines may already be falling: reuters.com/world/middle-e…

(Still, get vaccinated if you can. Sadly, most people don't have access to vaccines.)
Pharma companies make no secret of the likely need for 3rd shot boosters and new recipes to address new variants: cnbc.com/2021/04/15/pfi…
As long as pharma monopolies control the level of vaccine production, they will do so in their own interest, and this is where we will be, all with the support of the EU, the UK & others:

⚠️ Serial profits for the pharma monopolies.

⚠️ Endless pandemic for humanity.
If you're thinking that this all sounds a bit like a neocolonialist approach, you're not alone.

And there's a thread for that:

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Andrew Stroehlein

Andrew Stroehlein Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @astroehlein

Nov 16, 2023
Belgium is showing the way on the #Gaza crisis.

✅ Condemned 7/10 killings by Palestinian armed groups;

✅ Questioned legality of some Israeli airstrikes;

✅ Condemned Israel's collective punishment of Palestinians & called for targeted sanctions on those responsible;

1/n
Belgium has also:

✅ Expressed support for the International Criminal Court’s role and its ongoing investigation on the situation in Palestine, which includes jurisdiction over the current hostilities between the Israeli government and Palestinian armed groups.

2/n
In addition, the Belgian federal parliament has introduced a bill to ban trade with settlements in occupied territories.

3/n
Read 10 tweets
Aug 2, 2023
Convincing people that they have fundamental rights takes no effort at all.

Convincing them that others have fundamental rights is the hard part.
I want to write about these things in ways that might encourage new people to warm to the idea of universal human rights.

I don’t feel you can do that by using language and tropes that immediately spark “culture war” reactions - those cliché phrases that close minds instantly.
That’s been the purpose of my newsletter over the past year: to find language that brings people closer to understanding the fundamental rights that bind us together.

hrw.org/daily-brief-ar…
Read 4 tweets
Jun 19, 2023
Dans l'après-midi du 2 octobre 2018, l'éminent journaliste #saoudien et chroniqueur du Washington Post Jamal Khashoggi s'est rendu au consulat saoudien d'Istanbul pour obtenir les documents nécessaires pour son mariage. C'est la dernière fois que sa fiancée l'a vu.
Des agents saoudiens l’ont assassiné à l'intérieur du consulat et ont découpé son corps en morceaux.
Il ne s'agissait pas simplement d'une opération véreuse. En 2019, une enquête de l'ONU a mis en évidence "une coordination, des ressources et des finances gouvernementales importantes" derrière l'assassinat.
Read 7 tweets
Jun 18, 2023
1️⃣ From my Daily Brief last week - Monday:

The EU’s illegal and immoral border policies prioritize suffering: hrw.org/the-day-in-hum…

Audio: hrw.org/video-photos/a…

En français: hrw.org/fr/news/2023/0… Image
2️⃣ From my Daily Brief last week - Tuesday:

US state lawmakers pushing for MORE child labor: hrw.org/the-day-in-hum…

Audio: hrw.org/video-photos/a…

En français: hrw.org/fr/news/2023/0… Image
3️⃣ From my Daily Brief last week - Wednesday:

#India shuts down the internet more than any other country - and it hurts the poor most: hrw.org/the-day-in-hum…

Audio: hrw.org/video-photos/a…

En français: hrw.org/fr/news/2023/0… Image
Read 7 tweets
Jun 17, 2023
Mass drownings at sea are to the EU what mass shootings are to the US.

It keeps happening.

And every time it happens, politicians pretend to be concerned, yet keep in place the government policies at the root of the problem.

So, people keep dying.
hrw.org/the-day-in-hum…
What can be done?

Start with official, proactive search and rescue at sea.

Some EU states have drastically reduced search-and-rescue capacity at sea, and even restricted private groups from doing it.

Read more: hrw.org/news/2023/06/1…
Accepting mass drownings is a deliberate EU policy choice.

They have deliberated. They have discussed the options, and they know the consequences of the policy they chose.

It doesn't have to be this way.

There are other policy options, like making human life the priority.
Read 4 tweets
Jun 15, 2023
Mass deaths at sea are to the EU what mass shootings are to the US.

- It keeps happening.

- And every time, politicians pretend to be concerned.

- And every time, politicians keep in place the government policies at the root of the problem.

- And it keeps happening.
Read 5 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(