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Global South countries tell the WTO: we must suspend trade rules on patents if we’re to deal with #COVID19. Rich countries reply: ‘no, no, you’ll be totally fine, don’t worry’. (1/7) https://www.keionline.org/34235
Britain – which has tried to undermine schemes to allow #Covid19 medicines for all – tells poorer countries that they are being ‘extreme’ in wanting to suspend patent monopolies. (2/7) https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-statement-to-the-trips-council-item-15
Britain says: ‘don’t worry we have global schemes to promote medicines for all’. India rightly replies, hang on a minute: rich countries have tried to weaken those schemes to the point that not a single Big Pharma company is participating. (3/7)
In fact, Britain has bilaterally bought up as many potential vaccines as they can get their hands on. And wealthy nations representing 13% of the world’s population have more than half of the promised doses of leading #COVID-19 vaccine candidates. (4/7)
Britain says: ‘you can already override patents if you need to’. South Africa rightly replies: ‘hang on a minute, the rich world and your TNCs bully the South whenever we try to do that’. Like you did a few months ago.... (5/7)
Britain says: ‘we need patents to incentivise innovation’. India rightly replies: ‘ Are you serious? The incentives come from the billions of dollars of *public* money flowing into the coffers of Big corporations.
We stand with the South. Their proposals are a game-changer. Never again can millions die while we have the medicines to treat them, simply because TNCs can charge whatever they like for drugs the public has already subsidised. https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2020/10/18/big-pharma-is-not-going-to-help-the-world-defeat-covid-19/
