Worldwide
Millions Demand Wealthy Countries Stop Blocking Patent Waivers for COVID Vaccines
New York City, November 30, 2021
More than 2.5 million nurses from 28 countries
worldwide filed a
complaint with the United Nations (UN) November
29, calling on the UN
to investigate rich countries blocking a
proposed patent waiver for
coronavirus vaccines. The demand came as new
COVID variants are
emerging and the pandemic persists worldwide.
The campaign is
coordinated by Global Nurses United (GNU), with
Canadian and U.S.
unions participating.
 In a detailed
letter addressed to Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng, the UN
Special Rapporteur on Physical and Mental
Health, dozens of nursing
unions said "the end of this pandemic is nowhere
in sight" as "COVID-19
cases continue to soar in numerous parts of the
world, while
pharmaceutical companies and governments have
failed to ensure that
critical treatments and vaccines are
distributed." Vaccines are instead
being hoarded by rich countries, like the U.S.
and European countries,
and ability to produce the vaccines in poorer
countries is blocked by
patents -- that is private ownership of what is
clearly a public
necessity.
The letter continues, "This unequal
distribution of vaccines is not
only grossly unjust for the people in low- and
moderate-income
countries who remain at high risk for
contracting and further
transmitting COVID-19, it also provides for the
possibility for the
development of new variants, some of which may
be resistant to the
current available
vaccines," the filing reads. "The development
and spread of new
variants pose a dire risk to all people around
the world."
The complaint specifically targets the European
Union, Britain,
Switzerland, Norway, and Singapore, as key
countries standing in the
way of a patent waiver.
The nurses state that a small group of rich
nations is "endangering
millions of lives around the world." They say,
"This is a clear
violation of our right to health -- of nurses,
caregivers, and
patients." In addition to the letter they have
circulated a petition
and are also going to court. To the UN they
said, "We demand an urgent
investigation into
the obstruction of the waiver by these COVID-19
criminals."
The letter brings out that the richest
countries have secured
upwards of 7 billion vaccine doses, while
financially poorer countries
have only been able to secure about 300 million
doses. This has created
what public health advocates around the world
confirm is "vaccine
apartheid." The apartheid extends to health care
workers as well, with
less
than one in 10 healthcare workers being fully
vaccinated in the African
and Western Pacific regions, for example.
"Nurses and other healthcare workers have been
on the frontlines of
the COVID-19 pandemic response, and we have
witnessed the staggering
numbers of deaths and the immense suffering
caused by political
inaction," the letter continues. They bring out
that the continued
refusal by governments to waive patent
restrictions "is resulting in
the
violation of human rights of peoples across the
world," and that "these
countries have violated our rights and the
rights of our patients --
and caused the loss of countless lives -- of
nurses and other
caregivers and those we have cared for."
The
nurses call for "a new international health
order" to eliminate the
vaccine inequality and to provide for
"collective benefit, based on the
principles of sovereignty, solidarity, and the
universal right to life."
Geneva, Switzerland, November 30, 2021.
This article was published in
December 17, 2021 - No. 121
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2021/Articles/WO081213.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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