{"id":157182,"date":"2021-05-10T13:29:32","date_gmt":"2021-05-10T13:29:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=196755"},"modified":"2021-05-10T13:29:32","modified_gmt":"2021-05-10T13:29:32","slug":"450-academics-civil-society-organizations-politicians-unions-faith-leaders-and-healthcare-workers-call-for-boris-johnson-to-waive-vaccine-patents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/05\/10\/450-academics-civil-society-organizations-politicians-unions-faith-leaders-and-healthcare-workers-call-for-boris-johnson-to-waive-vaccine-patents\/","title":{"rendered":"450 Academics, Civil Society Organizations, Politicians, Unions, Faith Leaders, and Healthcare Workers Call for Boris Johnson to Waive Vaccine Patents"},"content":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON – Hundreds of academics, public health experts, MPs, peers, charities, NGOs, unions, faith leaders and healthcare workers <\/strong>have signed a letter calling for Boris Johnson to suspend intellectual property rules on Covid-19 vaccines and treatments.<\/p>\n It comes after the Biden administration announced on Wednesday it would support a waiver to help scale up global vaccine production to produce safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines for all people, in all countries.<\/p>\n Over 140 academics, development experts, and public health experts, including Mary De Silva Head of Population Health at the Wellcome Trust and members of Independent SAGE like Christina Pagel and Stephen Reicher, have added their names to the letter warning that an intellectual property waiver is “crucial towards ending this global pandemic and achieving worldwide immunity.”<\/p>\n The letter, organised by Global Justice Now, STOPAIDS, and Just Treatment, is backed by more than 80 charities and NGOs, including M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res, Oxfam, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Christian Aid, Save the Children, Transparency International, War on Want, Tr\u00f3caire. ActionAid, Plan International, and the Fairtrade Foundation.<\/p>\n More than 70 cross-party MPs and peers have added their names to the call, including former Conservative ministers Baroness Verma and Dr Daniel Poulter MP, Liberal Democrats including Foreign Affairs and Health spokesperson Layla Moran, SNP Green MP Caroline Lucas, well-known figures like Jeremy Corbyn, and Labour MPs including Sarah Champion, Chair of the International Development Committee.<\/p>\n Lord Bernard Ribeiro, Conservative peer and former president of the Royal College of Surgeons; Lord Leslie Turnberg, former president of the Royal College of Physicians; Baroness Shami Chakrabarti, human rights lawyer and former shadow attorney general; Lord Malcolm Bruce, former Chair of the International Development Committee have called on the Prime Minister to support the waiver.<\/p>\n Dozens of healthcare workers, faith leaders, Covid survivors, and patient advocates have joined them, alongside the TUC, the UK\u2019s largest union Unison, the University and College Union, the Communications Workers Union, transport unions ASLEF and TSSA, and the Fire Brigades Union.<\/p>\n India and South Africa first proposed an intellectual property waiver at the World Trade Organisation six months ago, backed by more than 100 mostly low-and-middle-income nations. But a small number of mostly wealthy states, including the US, UK, and EU have blocked the move so far<\/p>\n With the European Union \u201cready to discuss<\/a>\u201d a patent waiver, signatories are urging the UK government to drop its own opposition to the proposal.<\/p>\n The letter calls on Boris Johnson to \u201cprovide the leadership to ensure an end to this global crisis\u201d and to \u201cstand on the right side of history\u201d.<\/p>\n It warns that \u201cdefending intellectual property at all costs will not only lead to even more unnecessary loss of lives but is an unprecedented act of collective self-harm.\u201d<\/p>\n World-leading epidemiologists have warned<\/a> that allowing the virus to spread in low and middle-income countries will increase the risk of vaccine-resistant mutations that could render our current generation of vaccines obsolete by the end of the year.<\/p>\n