Ramaphosa calls on South Africans to support TRIPS waiver proposal
Activists outside Pfizer headquarters in Manhattan, New York demand that US President Joe Biden support the TRIPS waiver, which would lift the intellectual property protection for Covid-19 vaccines.
(Photo: Steven Francis Kong)
In his weekly letter, President Cyril Ramaphosa called on “all South Africans” – particularly civil society organisations – to support the country’s call for a temporary waiver of aspects of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. This would allow all countries to access the technology and know-how to produce Covid-19 vaccines and medicines. Read the letter in full here.
Campaigners beam ‘drop the patents’ onto pharma lobby HQ on eve of pandemic anniversary
Date: 11 March 2021
‘Drop the patents. End vaccine apartheid’ beamed onto UK pharma lobby head office as figures including Bernie Sanders and Graça Machel, Nelson Mandela’s widow, demand fairer access to vaccines
Head of UNAIDs compares pharma’s covid-response to AIDs crisis
UK risks complicity in “historic failure” that could cost countless more lives if it fails to act, campaigners warn
Pharmaceutical companies are under fresh pressure to unlock vaccines for low and middle income countries, as the world marks one year from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) declaration of the coronavirus pandemic.
Since it was published, the 2021 Budget has been called out as unconstitutional and austere from many corners. More than 200 social movements, civil society organisations, trade unions and individuals, in an open letter to members of Parliament, have endorsed a call for MPs to reject the Budget and send it back to the drawing board. The current Budget will cut public spending by R265-billion over the next three years in areas which directly affect human rights.
The signatories of the open letter represent 1.5 million people, according to Section27, one of the signatories.
The letter urges the members of Parliament to use their constitutional powers to send the Budget back to the executive. They should demand that it protects human rights and finds an alternative way of managing public debt, the letter states.
To get ready to take part in the People’s Vaccine Day of Action, join our online rally on
10 March at 13:30 Washington / 18:30 London / 19:30 Brussels / 21:30 Nairobi to find out more.
Our best chance of ending this pandemic is to ensure that everyone, everywhere has access to Covid-19 vaccines. But pharmaceutical monopolies are restricting supply and rich governments have hoarded doses, leaving countries in the global south waiting up to 2023 for widespread vaccination. This will lead to even more unnecessary loss of lives and allow the virus to spread and mutate, which will threaten everyone. No one is safe until everyone is safe