EU leaders say they will keep blocking wider vaccine production globally as long as they can.

Over 5 million dead…

BILLIONS unable to get even one jab…

Yet enforcing a vaccine shortage during a global pandemic remains the policy.

Deadly madness.

politico.eu/article/omicro…
By blocking wider production of vaccines, the EU & UK are prolonging the pandemic, meaning:

☠️ more death;

☠️ more economic disruption;

☠️ more chances for new variants to emerge that are:

☠️ ☠️ more deadly,

☠️ ☠️ more easily spread,

☠️ ☠️ vaccine resistant.
Without wider vaccine production globally - which the EU & UK are blocking - we will be caught in this trap forever…
The EU & UK policy of enforcing vaccine shortage in a global pandemic - giving more time for variants to emerge & spread - is outrageously immoral.

They block wider production to help boost prices & profits for pharma companies.

They should prioritize humanity instead.
#TRIPSwaiver

#PeoplesVaccine

✅ Now.
The EU Commission has been lying about the #TRIPSwaiver for a long time...

If you’d like some truth - and a lot of links - here’s a long thread for you:
This is the deliberate EU policy: long pandemic.

EU leaders are not stupid. They know the costs in terms of more death, more suffering & more economic wreckage...

...but they choose a long pandemic anyway.

Because they only listen to big pharma.

corporateeurope.org/en/2021/05/com…
The #TRIPSwaiver is supported by:

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

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

Leading international NGOs: 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…

The leading science journal @nature: nature.com/articles/d4158…

The European Parliament: europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-…
But the EU Commission ignores them all, insisting on its deadly policy of DELIBERATELY BLOCKING wider vaccine production globally.

And the rising human cost of Covid? They ignore that too.

What do you call sticking to a disastrously failed policy despite all advice & data? 🤔
About the only ally the EU Commission has on this deadly policy - apart from pharma monopolies, of course - is this guy…
Norway has changed its position. 👍

Let’s hope Germany’s new government will do the same!
Germany has been central to the EU’s disastrously deadly policy on this.

Merkel has stood in the way of the #TRIPSwaiver, making it harder for the world’s poor to swiftly get vaccines, treatments & testing kits.

With her departure, that could change.

hrw.org/news/2021/06/1…

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More from @astroehlein

28 Nov
If being asked to wear a mask in some places during a global pandemic is really the greatest "oppression" you've ever faced in your life, you seriously do not know how charmed a life you've had.
In fact, maybe you should consider wearing an extra thick mask so people don’t hear how ignorant you are. It would save you some embarrassment. #FreeAdvice
What we should all do in the global pandemic:

1️⃣ Wear a mask where asked to & in enclosed spaces.

2️⃣ Get vaccinated if you can.

3️⃣ Ask why BILLIONS cannot get vaccinated.

4️⃣ Demand that your government support the #TRIPSwaiver to expand vaccine production globally.
Read 6 tweets
28 Nov
For those who think that rich countries sharing vaccine doses with poor ones will solve the problem: the math is not on your side. This has been clear for many months, at least…
And now it’s actually worse.

The estimated number of doses needed globally used to be 11 billion. Now, with boosters recommended, we can say it’s 16 or 17 billion.

Where will these extra doses come from if the EU & UK continue to block wider production of vaccines globally?
4.7 billion people have not even had one jab yet.

Now, demand is increasing, but production will stay the same?

You don’t need to be an economist to figure out that prices will rise.

And you don’t need to be a pharma industry analyst to figure out who benefits from that.
Read 6 tweets
28 Nov
I have no problem with profits & intellectual property rules in the normal run of things. If you invent a widget & people buy it & you make money, great. As long as you’re respecting workers’ rights & the environment, go for it.

A global pandemic is not the normal run of things
When intellectual property monopolies mean billions of people can’t get a vaccine during a global pandemic, yes, that’s an exceptional situation, requiring exceptional measures.
The #TRIPSwaiver is exactly the exception to the rule that humanity needs.

We’ve tried the “protect monopolies & profits above all else” approach for more than a year now, and it very clearly hasn’t worked.

We need wider production of vaccines, and the waiver can help.
Read 5 tweets
27 Nov
Humanity: Hey, we’re dying here.

EU: Yes, it’s a global pandemic, but we have a vaccine for it.

Humanity: Great! So, you’re making sure everyone gets the vaccine globally, right?

EU: No, we’re making sure pharma companies get maximum profit from it.
And remember that when EU leaders & spokespeople talk about how they are “doing everything they can” to fight the virus, they are lying.

They have been lying for over a year.

The truth is, they are blocking wider vaccine production during a global pandemic.

Vile.
Read 4 tweets
27 Nov
This is one of the people who’s been carrying out the EU’s deadly policy of DELIBERATELY BLOCKING wider vaccine production globally, by preventing the #TRIPSwaiver at the WTO.

And this is a lie: the EU is committed only to boosting pharma company profits, not fighting the virus
By blocking wider production of vaccines, the EU is DELIBERATELY prolonging the pandemic, meaning:

☠️ more death;

☠️ more economic disruption;

☠️ more chances for new variants to emerge that are:

☠️ ☠️ more deadly,

☠️ ☠️ more easily spread,

☠️ ☠️ vaccine resistant.
There can be no stupider policy in a global pandemic than DELIBERATELY throttling vaccine production.

But that’s what the EU has been doing at the WTO for over a year…
Read 5 tweets

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