10’000 deaths per day

Lift the patents on vaccines, tests and anti-Covid treatments, now!

Big Pharma has held the populations of low- and middle-income countries hostage by reserving their supplies of vaccines, at high prices, for the most profitable countries. The lack of immediate universal access to vaccines, treatments, tests and other technologies could result in hundreds of thousands of deaths and the emergence of more contagious variants. Since October 2, 2020, the day when the countries of the South, led by South Africa and India, requested the lifting of patents on anti-Covid vaccines at the WTO, which was refused by the European Union and Switzerland in particular, an average of 10,119 people per day have died of this disease! As the WTO Ministerial Conference meets from November 30 to December 3 in Geneva, let’s mobilize to shout our disagreement with this medical “apartheid” policy and to demand the lifting of intellectual property rights on COVID vaccines, treatments and diagnostics!

The vaccines were developed with public funds. While they are massively distributed in rich countries, their sale benefits today only the big shareholders of Big Pharma, who see their dividends explode. In contrast to this logic, the lifting of intellectual property rights would allow much wider access to vaccines, treatments and diagnostics and would save hundreds of thousands of human lives. A remarkable study by the American consumer organization Public Citizen, in conjunction with researchers at Oxford University, shows that by lifting patents, undisclosed information protection and technology transfer, we can vaccinate the world and eradicate the pandemic.

Lifting intellectual property: a cost-effective solution for millions of lives saved

Using the same planning tools that the pharmaceutical industry uses to prepare its industrial site projects, the study makes a compelling case for how the global community could establish regional centers capable of producing eight billion doses of vaccine by May 2022. This would allow 80% of the population to be vaccinated at a cost of $9.4 billion, equivalent to the annual budget of the State of Geneva… a paltry cost considering the hundreds of thousands of lives that could be saved. This figure is even more telling when compared to the tens of billions of government subsidies received by the pharmaceutical trusts to develop vaccines… Do we really want these public investments to only allow the populations of rich countries to be vaccinated at the risk of never getting rid of COVID-19 while allowing a few privileged people to amass colossal fortunes?

Let’s mobilize for the life of all, against the profits of a few

The fight against Covid-19, but also against all other diseases and medical problems, must be led on a planetary scale by suspending the logic of profit maximization. The production of means of prevention, vaccines, medicines, etc., but also the care of the sick cannot depend on their solvency. Public control of research, of the pharmaceutical industry and of the hospital sector, as well as the development of a quality and free public health service, is therefore more than ever indispensable. In this respect, the example of Cuba, with the development of its public vaccine and its international solidarity in the field of health, shows the way. As the WTO Ministerial Conference meets from November 30 to December 3 in Geneva, let us mobilize to shout our disagreement with this “medical apartheid” policy and to demand the lifting of intellectual property rights on vaccines, treatments and all other medical products, which is necessary to curb Covid-19! This is essential to ensure the right to health for all. 

Everywhere, citizens, associations, unions, elected officials… let’s seize these Days of Shame to demonstrate in favor of universal and effective access to vaccines, treatments and diagnostics that must be considered as common goods. Maintaining intellectual property rights is criminal! Let’s support the countries of the South by demanding together that they be lifted without further delay! Let’s meet on November 30th at 5:30 pm in Geneva, Place Lise-Girardin, for a big candlelight demonstration.