Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists
Based on current Covid vaccine supply projections, nine out of ten people in low-income developing countries won’t get a vaccine in 2021. That’s why we are backing a petition calling for vaccines for people not for profit.
World Trade Organisation rules allow pharmaceutical companies to enforce intellectual property rules like patents on their vaccines, blocking other manufacturers from producing the vaccine. This artificially restricts the supply of vaccines, driving up prices.
India and South Africa are proposing a temporary relaxation of intellectual property rules from certain provisions of the WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspect of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) for the prevention, containment and treatment of COVID-19.
The petition calls on the New Zealand Government to support that action.
You can get more information and sign the petition here
ASMS, along with 41 other organisations, have also backed an open letter to the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, the Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta and the Trade Minister Damien O’Connor on supporting a People’s Vaccine.
