- Despite broad public support, G7 governments continue to oppose an IPR exemption for COVID-19 vaccines.
- The Vaccine for the People Alliance urges the leaders of the G7 to support the exemption of patents for vaccines at the meeting of the ministers of foreign affairs and development to be held today in London.
According to a new survey by the People’s Vaccine Alliance, the vast majority of the population in the G7 countries believes that governments should ensure that pharmaceutical companies share their vaccine formulas and technology.
The public considers that, although pharmaceutical companies should be compensated fairly for the development of vaccines, they should be prevented from maintaining a monopoly on them.
This coincides with the meeting of the ministers of Foreign Affairs and Development of the G7 nations in London, the first to be held in person in two years, and with the General Council of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which is being held online today; meanwhile, the number of deaths in India continues to rise.
An average of 70% of the population of the G7 countries wants their government to guarantee the sharing of vaccine know-how, according to the analysis of the Vaccine Alliance for the People. The greatest support for government intervention occurs in Italy, where 82% of the people surveyed declared themselves in favor, followed by Canada, where this percentage was 76%.
Even though Prime Minister Boris Johnson has attributed the success of vaccination in the UK to “greed and capitalism”, 74% of the population of that country wants their government to prevent the monopolies of big pharmaceuticals.
The support of the British public for this intervention crosses political borders, since it has the support of 73% of the people who voted for the Conservative Party, 83% of those who voted for the Labor Party, and 79% of the voters. of the Liberal-Democratic Party. Likewise, 83% of those who voted in favor and 72% of those who voted against in the Referendum on the stay of the United Kingdom in the EU support the measure.
In the United States, where President Joe Biden has manifested their “desire and hope” for a pooling of vaccine know-how, public opinion support for this measure amounts to 69%, including 89% of Biden voters and 65% of those who they voted for Trump in 2020. In Japan, 58% of the public is in favor of a similar measure.
Support is also majority in the Member States of the European Union, with percentages ranging from 70% in Germany to 63% in France.
Heidi Chow, Global Justice Now’s Chief Campaign and Policy Officer, said:
“The public does not want the big pharmaceutical companies to have a monopoly on vaccines that were developed largely thanks to public funds. These vaccines are a global public good that should be available to everyone, around the world. This is a no-brainer for the citizens of the G7 countries, but their political leaders apply the ostrich policy and look the other way as people die around them ”.
Despite widespread support for the sharing of COVID-19 vaccine know-how, G7 governments have continued to hold a monopoly on pharmaceutical companies.
More than 100 countries, led by India and South Africa, have advocated in the WTO for a temporary exemption from intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines, but countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Canada and the EU have blocked this proposal.
The Biden administration has confirmed that it is reconsidering the United States’ opposition to this measure.
To date, pharmaceutical companies have refused to share their vaccine know-how with the rest of the world. None of the companies that have developed an effective vaccine against COVID-19 have joined the WHO Joint Access to Technology against COVID-19 (C-TAP), an initiative created to facilitate the sharing of progress in vaccines and treatments.
Saoirse Fitzpatrick, STOPAIDS Advocacy Director, said:
“The terrifying situation that is being experienced in India should stir the conscience of the leaders of the G7 countries. Now is not the time to make an ideological defense of intellectual property rules. Bilateral agreements with pharmaceutical companies have not worked. Governments must step in and force pharmaceutical companies to share intellectual property and vaccine know-how with the world. “
In the framework of its presidency of the G7, the United Kingdom has proposed a Preparedness Plan against the Pandemic on which ministers will debate this week, and which does not contemplate the problem of monopolies and intellectual property. Pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer participate in the team responsible for preparing this proposal, but governments and vaccine producers from developing countries have not been invited.
Continuing to block the sharing of life-saving technologies would be a huge leadership failure.
Steve Cockburn, Director of Economic and Social Justice at Amnesty International, said:
“The governments of the G7 countries have clear obligations in terms of human rights, which include putting the lives of millions of people around the world before the interests of the pharmaceutical companies that they themselves have financed. Continuing to block the sharing of life-saving technologies would be a huge leadership failure, and would only serve to prolong the immense pain and suffering caused by this pandemic. “
Last month, 175 former world leaders and Nobel laureates, including Gordon Brown, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and Françoise Hollande, wrote to President Biden to show their support for the temporary exemption from intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines.
One hundred and fifty religious leaders, including Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury, Thabo Makgoba, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, and Cardinal Peter Turkson of the Roman Catholic Church, have urged G7 leaders to address COVID- vaccines. 19 as a “global common good”.
Anna Marriott, Oxfam’s Head of Health Policy, said:
“While thousands of people die in low- and middle-income countries, rich countries have skipped the vaccine line. The G7 leaders must face reality. We don’t have enough vaccines for everyone, and the main obstacle to increasing supply is that a few wealth-hungry pharmaceutical companies keep the rights to produce them under lock and key. It is time to exempt intellectual property rights, increase production and put people’s lives before profits. It is time for there to be a vaccine for the people ”.
According to a survey carried out, two-thirds of the world’s leading epidemiology specialists have warned that, if the spread of the virus continues, more resistant strains could emerge that would end the efficacy of current vaccines within a year. The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), an independent body that provides advice on public health in the UK, has defended an exemption from patents to deal with supply problems.
Moderna, Pfizer / BioNtech, Johnson & Johnson, Novovax and Oxford / AstraZeneca have received billions of public funds and guaranteed pre-orders, including $ 12 billion from the US government alone. An estimated 97% of funding for Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine development is publicly sourced.
This year, the companies have distributed among their shareholders $ 26 billion in dividends and share buybacks; this amount would be enough to vaccinate at least 1.3 billion people, the equivalent of the population of Africa.
The Vaccine Alliance for the People is a movement made up of humanitarian, health and human rights organizations, leaders and former world leaders, health experts, religious leaders and economists who advocate for the rapid and large-scale production of vaccines against the COVID-19, which should be considered a global public good, be exempt from intellectual property protections, and be freely available to everyone, worldwide.
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