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As the enormity of COVID-19 started to become apparent, we created resources and information about the new and emerging technologies that could be used to mitigate the consequences for the global population.
Here you can find the resources compiled for journalists that provide more information on medical technologies for COVID-19 that you can use in your day-to-day work.
Letter: EU Rushing WTO Members to Adopt Weak Waiver Text
In a letter to the European Commission, MEPs and Representatives to the World Trade Organization (WTO), a group of over 30 European and international civil society organisations today demanded the European Union (EU) end their attempts to rapidly adopt an unsound proposal on intellectual property rights and COVID-19.
The letter signed by groups including HAI, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the People’s Vaccine Alliance, claims the EU has “repeatedly ignored evidence of the effects of restrictive licensing practices on access to COVID-19 medical tools and resisted meaningful negotiations on a proposal for a temporary TRIPS waiver at the WTO to address limited production and shortage of supply”.
Statement on Spanish Research Institute Licence with C-TAP
The decision by the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) and Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to licence a serological test to the World Health Organisations (WHO) Covid-19 Technologies Access Pool (C-TAP) is a milestone for global health and a major step toward achieving more equitable access to health technologies.
European Commission is offering no meaningful solutions for equitable access
Over 200 civil society organisations from around the world have signed a letter the European Commission and EU Member States urging them to engage in text-based negotiations for a TRIPS waiver. The signatories to the letter point out that communications from the Commission to the World Trade Organization’s TRIPS Council offer no meaningful solutions for equitable access to vaccines & other health technologies to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
No Profit on a Pandemic
The No Profit on Pandemic campaign is a European Citizens’ Initiative calling on the European Commission to do everything in its power to make anti-pandemic vaccines and treatments a global public good, accessible to everyone. The initiative aims to collect one million signatures in support of equal access to vaccines by May 2022.
Oproep aan Nederlandse regering: toon politieke daadkracht tijdens topconferenties en promoot eerlijke toegang tot Covid-19 vaccins
De Nederlandse regering kan dit najaar een belangrijke bijdrage leveren aan het bestrijden van de wereldwijde coronacrisis. Er staan drie internationale topconferenties op de agenda waarop Nederland zijn steun kan uitspreken voor het tijdelijk opheffen van intellectuele eigendomsrechten voor medische producten tegen Covid-19, waaronder vaccins. In een gezamenlijke brief roepen maatschappelijke organisaties Health Action International, Wemos, Oxfam Novib en Cordaid het kabinet op om politieke daadkracht te tonen.
COVID-19: European Commission gives lacklustre response to legitimate civil society concerns
Along with over 200 other civil society organisations, on 29th June we wrote to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. In our letter, we requested that the European Union (EU) engage in text-based negotiations on South Africa and India’s TRIPS waiver proposal and that they should avoid further disruptions of the multilateral dialogue.
European Commission’s State of the Union address: Reflection and Transparency Notable Absences
In September, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivered her annual State of the Union address. The purpose of the speech is to reflect on the previous year and to set out the priorities for the next: the title, Strengthening the Soul of the Union, is indicative of the reflective tone of the President, as she considered a difficult year for the bloc.
C-TAP has not (yet) lived up to high expectations
One year ago, as the scale and gravity of the COVID-19 pandemic had become painfully clear, we looked to the launch of the COVID-19 Technologies Access Pool (C-TAP) with high expectations of fulfilling the goal of making vaccines and other medical technologies truly global public goods.
A Pandemic Response Lacking Moral Leadership
In October 2020, eight months after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, India and South Africa submitted a proposal for a temporary waiver on certain articles of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) TRIPS Agreement. This so-called TRIPS waiver would cover patents, trademarks, and other intellectual property (IP) protection elements of COVID-19-related health technologies, including vaccines. The idea has since been welcomed and supported by many governments at WTO (57 are now co-sponsors), civil society from across the world, and other stakeholders, such as researchers and economists. Yet it has been met with a mixture of incredulity and hostility from pharma and a small group of countries, who have spared no effort to stifle any debate on the merits of the proposal.
MPs and MEPs Call for TRIPS Waiver
In a statement, hundreds of MEPs and MPs demanded real text-based negotiations for a TRIPS Waiver at the World Trade Organization and for the European Commission to stop harming its moral stature by putting pharma interest (and patents) before patients’ lives.
Over 100 MEPs call for a TRIPS Waiver
In a declaration to the European Commission and European Council, a cross-party group of 115 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have urged the European Commission and the European Council to drop their opposition to the TRIPS waiver proposal at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Such a waiver would enable greater access to affordable COVID-19 health technologies, including vaccines, in particular for developing and middle income countries.
Medical Technologies for COVID-19 Developed with Public Money Must be Recognised as Global Public Goods
Ahead of the 73rd World Health Assembly (WHA73) on Monday 18 May, Health Action International delivered a statement about a joint response to COVID-19, TRIPs Flexbilities and the COVID-19 technology pool (C-TAP).
Read the full statement.
News items
We have produced a number of statements, fact sheets, blogs, research papers and discussion papers addressing access to COVID-19 related health technologies.