COVID-19 Pandemic

MEDIA RELEASE                                                                                  

14 September 2021

September 10, 2021: More than 50,000 Australians signed petitions demanding the Australian Government put people before profits and support a temporary waiver on World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules that give pharmaceutical companies 20-year monopolies for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.

And we won! Thanks to our collective efforts, Minister Tehan said last week he supports the waiver!. But now we need to make sure he delivers on that promise in WTO meetings that begin this week. You can send a message to the Trade Minister here.

September 9, 2021: After months of campaigning a coalition of national civil society organisations were invited to meet with Trade Minister Dan Tehan on September 7 and presented him with evidence that under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules a few companies have a 20-year monopoly on COVID-19 vaccines and treatments and low-income countries will not get widespread access for several years.

September 6, 2021: Under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, a few pharmaceutical companies have 20-year monopoly patents on COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, and each government must negotiate with them on prices and quantities. Rich countries are first in line, but even Australia is experiencing delays. Low-income countries must wait years while the pandemic rages, more infectious strains like Delta develop, and millions more die.

September 2, 2021: A Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) study reveals that Pfizer and Moderna, manufacturers of the two approved mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, have not made any agreements to transfer their technology and increase supplies of vaccines in low income countries. They have only signed contracts for the supply of vaccine ingredients with companies in high income countries and China.

August 24, 2021: The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that the Federal Industry Minister Christian Porter has found that Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna, who hold the patents for the only two mRNA vaccines against COVID-19, don’t want to licence or sub-contract to a local manufacturer.

August 23, 2021: An extensive report in The Saturday Paper exposes that the Morrison government is stalling on the proposal for a temporary waiver of 20-year monopoly patent rights on COVID-19 vaccines at the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

August 16, 2021: The campaign to change WTO rules to rapidly boost production of COVID-19 vaccines, treatments and equipment is stalemated in the World Trade Organisation, but it has a new champion in Chelsea Clinton, now a professor of health policy at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health in New York City.

August 5, 2021: Leaders of the Catholic, Methodist, Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian and United Church of Christ Churches and the trade union centre the AFL-CIO joined Jubilee USA for a meeting with US Trade Representative Katherine Tai yesterday to support the waiving of COVID-19 vaccine patents at the World Trade Organisation (WTO).