Reverse Trump’s deadly obstruction of COVID-19 vaccines (petition)

"We have got to stand up to the pharmaceutical industry and say that people's lives are more important than patent monopolies and obscene profits." "We have got to stand up to the pharmaceutical industry and say that people's lives are more important than patent monopolies and obscene profits."

Dear MoveOn member,

Millions of people around the world may not get COVID-19 vaccines until as late as 2024—unless President Biden reverses Trump's giveaway to Big Pharma.

Sign now: Urge the Biden administration to reverse Trump's deadly obstruction of global COVID-19 vaccines!

The Trump administration allowed a deadly Big Pharma blockage of a waiver of World Trade Organization (WTO) rules that allow greedy pharmaceutical firms to set high prices for COVID treatments and control how much vaccine is produced. This blockage has paved the way for rich countries to hoard most of the vaccine supply, leaving poor countries behind and deepening the grip of inequity. It has cut off vaccine access and, as usual, has disproportionately affected poor, majority Black and brown communities across the globe.¹

In October, India and South Africa proposed that the WTO allow the production of generic versions of the vaccine to expand access to disadvantaged communities.² The Trump administration, doing Big Pharma's dirty work as usual, blocked this proposal, which continues to lead to many avoidable deaths.

The Biden administration must take every step and make every single effort possible to help end the global COVID-19 pandemic as quickly as possible, and reversing this Trump-era blockage must be one of those steps. Limiting vaccine access and supply means that people in developing countries might not get vaccinated for years. This is unacceptable.

Continued U.S. opposition creates needless suffering and loss of life. We're all at risk from this decision: COVID-19 outbreaks anywhere mean that new variants can emerge that could beat the current vaccines, so unless people worldwide can access vaccines and treatments, there can be no end to the public health or economic crises anywhere.

When President Biden was asked if he would be committed to sharing vaccine technology with other countries, he said, "Absolutely, positively. This is the only humane thing in the world to do."³ It's time for the Biden administration to make good on this critical promise.

And Biden is not alone; many people agree we must expand access to the vaccine. As Senator Bernie Sanders said, "We have got to stand up to the pharmaceutical industry and say that people's lives are more important than patent monopolies and obscene profits. We cannot allow rich countries to buy up the vast majority of the world's vaccines, while most of the world, living in poorer countries, has to wait in line for years."⁴ 

But only Biden alone can reverse Trump's power grab for Big Pharma. This is a racial justice issue, an economic justice issue, and a health care justice issue, and it affects us all.

Add your name to this petition, and then pass it along to your friends!

Thanks!

–Ryan Harvey, Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch

Sources: 

1. "Biden Must Reject Trump's 'Vaccine Apartheid' Policy at the WTO," In These Times, January 12, 2021
https://act.moveon.org/go/150136?t=10&akid=290915%2E10220574%2En_et8d

2. "WAIVER FROM CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF THE TRIPS AGREEMENT FOR THE PREVENTION, CONTAINMENT AND TREATMENT OF COVID-19," World Trade Organization, October 2, 2020
https://act.moveon.org/go/150137?t=12&akid=290915%2E10220574%2En_et8d

3. "Vaccine access for me, but not for thee, The Bucknellian, February 17, 2021
https://act.moveon.org/go/150138?t=14&akid=290915%2E10220574%2En_et8d

4. "Biden Must Reject Trump's "Vaccine Apartheid" Policy at the WTO", In These Times, January 12, 2021

https://act.moveon.org/go/150136?t=16&akid=290915%2E10220574%2En_et8d

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