WASHINGTON, D.C. – The World Trade Organization (WTO) today formally introduced an alternative proposal to a waiver of pharmaceutical monopoly rules restricting the increased production of COVID-19 vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics. Arthur Stamoulis, executive director of the Trade Justice Education Fund, released the following statement:
“This proposal not only fails to remove intellectual property barriers standing in the way of global access to COVID vaccines, tests and treatments, it actually imposes some new ones.
“If anything, the fact that it took the WTO over a year to come up with this completely backwards proposal shows just how broken and out of touch the corporate-centered institution remains.
“Billions of people around the world still do not have access to the COVID vaccines, tests and treatments that many Americans take for granted. Without strong U.S. leadership, thousands will continue to die needlessly each day, and the world will remain vulnerable to new COVID variants that can undo much of the progress made against the pandemic to date.
“At this point, the Biden administration can best demonstrate its support for vaccine equity by joining with South Africa, India and others in submitting an immediate joint amendment that would replace this proposal with language that actually helps low- and middle-income countries produce more of the critical medical technologies that are needed to save lives and end the pandemic.
“In the meantime, President Biden can help save lives and end the pandemic by using his existing authority to compel pharmaceutical monopolies to share their vaccine and treatment-making know-how with qualified producers around the world.”
The Trade Justice Education Fund, Amnesty International USA, Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam America, Partners In Health and others had already published a letter detailing problems with the proposal and calling on President Biden to reject it when the proposal’s text first leaked last month.