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The United States and other wealthy members of the World Trade Organization have blocked a push by dozens of developing countries to waive patent rights in an effort to boost production of COVID-19 vaccines for poor nations. The proposal by South Africa and India was supported by hundreds of civil society organizations, including Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam and Amnesty International. Without the waiver, vaccine production will remain in the hands of only a few pharmaceutical companies. “Millions of us are basically going to have to wait for a vaccine, putting global immunity, as well as regional immunity, particularly in Africa, at severe risk,” says South African activist Fatima Hassan, founder and director of Health Justice Initiative. We also speak with Achal Prabhala, coordinator of the AccessIBSA project, which campaigns for access to medicines in India, Brazil and South Africa. He says one of the barriers t
First in EU: Menczer with Chinese Ambassador to Hungary Qi Dayu welcoming the arrival of China’s Sinopharm vaccine at Liszt Ferenc International Airport in Hungary on Feb 16. Xinhua
CHINA’s Covid-19 vaccines have finally gained their well-deserved recognition this month after EU nations led by Germany and France called for openness to accept Chinese and Russian vaccines amid acute shortage.
Earlier this month, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron expressed openness of their countries to any vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to overcome vaccine shortage.
Last Monday, Macron said that Chinese and Russian vaccines were “necessary for the world to win the war against Covid-19”, reported Xinhua News from Paris.