Sign the Petition: Waive Patent Rights on Covid-19 Vaccines
“It would be sad if this vaccine were to become the property of this nation or another, rather than universal and for all,” warned Pope Francis on 19 Aug. 2020, about the risk of prioritizing access to the vaccine to the richest nations. South Africa and India governments have called WTOto temporarily waive patent rights on Covid-19 vaccines. More than 100 countries and 400 civil society organizations and international organizations have already welcomed the proposal.
Lending support to such a call, H.E. Archbishop Ivan Jurkovič, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva, has written to the President of WTO and TRIPs stating, “The principles of justice, solidarity and inclusiveness, must be the basis of any specific and concrete intervention in response to the pandemic. The decision of granting a waiver from the implementation, application and enforcement … in relation to prevention, containment or treatment of COVID19 would be a strong signal demonstrating real commitment and engagement and thus moving from declaration to action in favor of the entire human family.” The link
On 23 February, Fr. Orobator SJ, President of Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar (JCAM) has addressed the German government with a direct letter saying, “The longer the virus circulates in unprotected populations, the higher the probability of more transmissible mutations to occur, which obviously will affect all countries, including those opposing the waiver proposal.”The link.
Jesuitenmission Deutschland & Austria have written to the Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel and Sebastian Kurz respectively, calling them to vote in support of the proposal. The letters say, “Historically, WTO decides by consensus. However, Article IX of the WTO Agreement does not only provide for waivers in exceptional circumstances, but also foresees for those situations a decision system by a three-quarter majority, if consensus cannot be found. We think that the present situation is truly exceptional and therefore justifies both waiver and a majority vote. Proceeding like that would resolve the problem, that those countries objecting the waiver, are largely the same nation-states that have secured most of produced vaccines for their own populations.”
In Spain, ALBOAN, Entreculturas, Radio Ecca and others have joined this initiative and have written to the Prime Minister, Mr. Pedro Sánchez. They are also promoting an online petition, which you can find at visibles.org
SJES encourages each one of you to join in this campaign and Take Action.
To know more:
· YouTube Video in English, explaining the problem. Although not updated, presents the reality well.
Support with your signature:
Sign the Petition to the Austrian government; German government and Spanish government
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