Proponents of vaccine justice are calling on the Canadian government to join the pressure to lift the patent to help fight the global fight against COVID-19, just as the World Trade Organization (WTO) begins high-level talks on this and other issues.
The WTO kicked off its last ministerial conference on Sunday at its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
Ahead of the four-day conference, The Council of Canadians issued an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calling on the federal government to change its position on lifting intellectual property rules for vaccines against COVID-19 and other therapeutic agents.
Speaking to Your Morning on CTV on Monday, Nicholas Barry-Shaw, a fighter for trade and privatization at The Council of Canadians, said the move would allow other countries to produce their own generic versions of these drugs and make them more widely available.
However, he said a handful of pharmaceutical companies had monopolized the supply of vaccines, using their position to impose extremely high prices, which he said “basically paid the price for almost half of humanity”.
“So today we are in a situation where 2.7 billion people still do not have access to vaccines and we are at risk of reproducing this situation when we start introducing updated vaccines to deal with the new options, and as we start to introduce treatments as well, “he said.
The question of whether to lift WTO protection on intellectual property for COVID-19 vaccines continues throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, with the pharmaceutical industry seeking to protect its innovations and advocacy groups, saying the pandemic deserves an exception, especially for developing countries. countries.
In 2020, India and South Africa made a joint proposal to suspend the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights during the pandemic.
In an open letter, the Council of Canadians said Canada was out of step with the rest of the world, with more than 100 other countries supporting the refusal.
The administration of US President Joe Biden announced its support for the release a year ago, a position criticized by European Union leaders at the time.
Meanwhile, Canada is committed to donating overdoses of vaccines through the global COVAX initiative. As of June 2, the federal government said more than 14.8 million doses had been delivered.
Barry-Shaw cited billions of dollars in government funds used to develop vaccines against COVID-19, which he said have now become the private property of a handful of companies.
He also highlighted one signatory of the open letter, Achal Prabhala of the AccessIBSA project, who called for greater access to medicines in countries such as India, Brazil and South Africa.
In December 2021, Human Rights Watch highlighted a list compiled by AccessIBSA and Lédecins Sans Frontières, or Doctors Without Borders, of more than 100 companies in Africa, Asia and Latin America that have the potential to produce mRNA vaccines.
“So the idea that there are only … a few companies and rich countries that can make these vaccines is really quite interesting, and I don’t think we really have to believe what these companies have to say about that.” he said.
With files from CTV News, The Associated Press and Reuters
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