In a piece for Local Call, I make the case for supporting the proposal put forward in the WTO by South Africa and India, and supported by most governments in the world, to temporarily supsend intellectual property rights regarding Covid-19 vaccines and all medicine and equipment required to combat the pandemic. While the Israeli government, like many others, point to their support for the COVAX initiative as an alternative, that effort is proving a colossal failure, people in low-income countries have hardly begun to receive vaccines, and vaccine production capacities world wide remain unutilized due to licensing. To bring the pandemic to an end, this entirely artificial barrier must be removed and international efforts focused on overcoming all remaining barriers to widespread vaccination.
To the full text, in Hebrew >>
Main sources (in English):
- A TRIPS waiver is urgently needed to make progress on COVID-19 vaccine equity (COVID-19 Clinical Research Coalition)
- Seven Reasons the EU is Wrong to Oppose the TRIPS Waiver (HRW)
- How Bill Gates Impeded Global Access to Covid Vaccines (The New Republic)
- Where a Vast Global Vaccination Program Went Wrong (NYT)