October 13: Ahead of this week’s meeting of the WTO’s Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS), Labor has called on the Government to co-sponsor a waiver on medical monopolies.
October 11, 2021: Two major reports have exposed the failings of the current system of global vaccine production and distribution, recommending both increased emergency donations of vaccines and the temporary waiver of intellectual property (IP) rights at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to enable production of cheap vaccines in low-income countries.
October 6, 2021: The campaign for a “TRIPS Waiver” has been featured across ABC News, with AFTINET Convenor Dr. Patricia Ranald telling ABC Radio National AM that the COVID pandemic represents an enormous challenge for the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the international community:
“If the WTO cannot respond to the needs of the majority of people in the world … who are saying, 'We need this waiver of monopolies in order to be able to save millions of lives,' then I think this will be a significant failure for the World Trade Organization."
October 5, 2021: Since the TRIPS Waiver was put to the WTO one year ago, more than 3.6 million people have lost their lives since the proposal was first introduced to the World Trade Organization (WTO) on 2 October 2020.
29 September 2021: As the COVID pandemic continues to devastate low-income countries, 206 major civil society groups have called on the World Trade Organization (WTO) to change WTO rules for monopolies on vaccines that result in “vaccine apartheid”, and to work towards “a new vision of multilateralism which will result in ecological stability and shared prosperity”. The WTO is preparing for a Ministerial meeting in November.
September 27, 2021: Trade justice and public health activists expressed disappointment at the outcomes of last week’s Biden Vaccine Summit held on September 22 and the Quad meeting of the US, India, Japan and Australia held on September 24.
Media Release September 22, 2021
National public health, church, union, human rights, aid and development and environment organisations today called on the Prime Minister to support the proposal to waive WTO rules for vaccine monopolies in global talks this week, and show its support by becoming a formal sponsor.
September 16, 2021: The People’s Vaccine Alliance* has lashed Moderna, BioNTech and Pfizer for cashing in thanks to taxpayer investments, monopolies, and low taxes, while leaving millions unprotected, on the eve of major global meetings on the COVID-19 pandemic.
September 15, 2021: MSF organsied this information forum on the temporary waiver on monopolies for COVID-19 products, featuring
September 14, 2021: After months of holding out, Australia has at last joined other members of the World Trade Organisation in backing a waiver of patents and other intellectual property rights on vaccines, treatments, diagnostic tests and devices needed to fight COVID-19.
Latrobe University Associate Professor in Public Health, Dr Deborah Gleeson, explains why Australia should now take action in The Conversation today.