WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Joe Biden must commit to a complete waiver of intellectual property rights for COVID vaccines, tests and treatments, as well as mandatory transfer of vaccine technology and funding for global manufacturing hubs ahead of key World Trade Organization (WTO) conferences and a planned global COVID summit, 83 civil society organizations said today in a letter to the White House.
“Two years into the pandemic and only about 1-in-10 people in low-income countries have received their first vaccine dose, leaving the world vulnerable to the next COVID variant,” said Arthur Stamoulis, executive director of the Trade Justice Education Fund, which led the letter effort. “President Biden must exercise his current power and bulk up COVID vaccine, test and treatment production abroad so we can finally end this pandemic.”
President Biden has previously pledged to vaccinate 70% of the world by the end of 2022, and the letter comes ahead of the WTO’s general council meeting this week where a waiver of intellectual property rights is likely to be discussed. The WTO has also set an end-of-February deadline for a decision on the IP waiver, known as the TRIPS waiver.
The letter noted that current vaccine donation methods have been insufficient in containing COVID and subsequent variants, and urged the need for countries to manufacture and distribute their own doses, tests and treatments to prevent additional variants. Signers of the letter include the American Federal of Teachers, Oxfam America, Public Citizen and other civil society, union, and faith-based organizations.
“As you’ve stated many times before, Americans will never be fully safe from COVID so long as people are unable to access effective vaccines and treatments in other parts of the globe,” the letter said.
Read the full letter here.