Covid Vaccine Inequality 92 Cross Party Parliamentarians write to the Secretary of State for International Trade asking the UK to support a ‘TRIPS waiver’ at the World Trade Organisation. The best way to increase global vaccination rates is by temporarily waiving intellectual property rights on jabs, tests and treatments. The over riding priority in protecting the NHS and safeguarding our economy is to end the pandemic globally and it needs the UK’s leadership to bring this about.

I am one of the 92 signatories to the cross-party parliamentary letter to the Secretary of State for International Trade asking the UK to support a ‘TRIPS waiver’ at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on COVID-19 vaccines, tests and treatments for the duration of the pandemic. From the outset of the Covid Pandemic this is an issue on which I have spoken about on several occasions.

Government quizzed on what assessment they have made of (1) the estimates that less than one per cent of COVID-19 vaccines have been delivered to low-income countries (2) the reports of increasing COVID-19 (a) infection rates, and (b) fatalities, in parts of (i) South Asia, (ii) South East Asia, and (iii) Africa, and (3) the need to balance sending vaccines to these regions against the decision to provide a third vaccination for 32 million people in the UK.

Challenged the Government to fight the big pharmas when they use intellectual property rights to restrict access to vaccines. Pointed out that 97% of the costs of developing the Astra-Zeneca vaccine have come from public funds

Questions today on the affordability of Drugs and the dangers posed by fake Covid-19 vaccines – Government says it is actively assessing the nature and extent of such a threat.

An opinion piece by Dr Dan Poulter MP referencing the letter, was also released in the Telegraph on Sunday and can be found https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/protecting-nhs-economy-means-ending-pandemic-globally-uk-can/

He is right that the best way to increase global vaccination rates is by temporarily waiving intellectual property rights on jabs, tests and treatments. The over riding priority in protecting the NHS and safeguarding our economy is to end the pandemic globally and it needs the UK’s leadership to bring this about.

Ironically the World Trade Organisation Ministerial Meeting at which it was hoped would bring progress on the “TRIPS waiver” was postponed because of fears of spreading the new variant. There may now be an emergency WTO General Council Meeting in December – let’s hope so.

Vaccination should not be yet another indicator of gross inequality.

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Rt Hon Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP Secretary of State Department for International Trade 3 Whitehall Place London, SW1A 2HN
28 November 2021

Dear Secretary of State,

As a group of 92 cross-party parliamentarians, we write to you today to express our deep concern for the continued inequality in global access to COVID-19 vaccines, tests and treatments and to ask you to support the proposal at the World Trade Organisation to temporarily suspend intellectual property barriers on all COVID-19 technologies.
We have much to be proud of as a country in how we have navigated through this global pandemic. We have seen communities come together, our NHS work harder than ever, and helped create new and innovative technologies to test, prevent, and treat a novel virus. However, as we proudly continue to roll out COVID-19 vaccines and boosters and our economy continues to open, millions around the world still remain without access to life-saving vaccines, treatments and other medical tools. To date, just 5.5% of people across low-income countries have received their first dose, yet in contrast, over 68% of the UK’s population are double vaccinated, and almost 24% have received a booster dose. This stark inequity is similar for tests, where in the UK there are over 4,500 tests per 1000 people compared to just 29 per 1000 in Mozambique.
Despite commitments from wealthy nations to donate vaccines, as of October 2021, less than 15% of the 1.8 billion doses promised have been delivered. The UK itself has delivered less than 10% of the 100 million doses it has promised to lower-income nations. COVAX has unfortunately not lived up to its promises as richer nations have hoarded global supplies and pharmaceutical companies have continued to sell their doses to the highest bidder, leaving COVAX almost entirely dependent on the charity of high-income countries.
Whilst donations of vaccines are welcome, it is clear that we cannot rely on them alone to vaccinate the world. The UK must now do more to increase the supply of all COVID-19 health tools and support low and middle-income nations, who are on the frontlines on the current inequity, to manufacture vaccines, tests and treatments locally. A clear way to increase supply is through the temporary waiver of Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) for COVID-19 technologies, and for the ‘tacit’ manufacturing know-how for vaccines and other
Working for the people of Central Suffolk and North Ipswich
All correspondence should be addressed to the House of Commons
Tel: 0207 219 7038 Email: [email protected] Web: www.drdanielpoulter.com
technologies to be shared via the World Health Organisation’s Covid Technology Access Pool (C-TAP).
A TRIPS waiver would increase and diversify global production of COVID-19 health technologies. Currently, pharmaceutical monopolies are controlling the supply of these medical tools, limiting availability and driving up prices. Temporarily lifting intellectual property barriers, including patents and trade secrets, would mean that producers in countries where there is existing production capacity could manufacture vaccines, treatments and tests for roll-out in low- and middle-income countries at affordable prices. A year has passed since the temporary TRIPS waiver proposal was tabled at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), led by India and South Africa, and supported by over 100 other nations, including the USA, Australia and New Zealand. The proposal also has support from over 100 international IP academics, UN experts, human rights lawyers, global civil society organisations, and Pope Francis, amongst many others. The UK remains one of a few nations that continues to actively oppose it.
The upcoming WTO Ministerial meeting, the MC12, on November 30th is a critical moment to make progress towards a decision on the waiver. This is a key early opportunity in your role as International Trade Secretary to show Global Britain in action, and stand shoulder to shoulder with the many countries who are asking our Government to allow them the same level of access to pandemic tools that we here in the UK have been fortunate enough to enjoy. As the Prime Minister has rightly said, the UK must do its bit to make sure that everybody, in every country, gets the vaccines that they need so that the whole world can come through this pandemic together. This call for global solidarity must be backed by concrete action if the UK is to uphold its reputation as a force for good in the world.
The impact of these decisions will have an effect on people in the UK. SAGE experts have said that if COVID-19 is allowed to continue to run rampant across the world, new mutations of the virus will continue to flourish and could render our existing vaccination efforts obsolete, risking further lives and our economic recovery. The Economist Intelligence Unit has estimated that delayed global vaccination will cost the global economy $2.3 trillion in 2022-25.
We urge you to use this moment to show UK leadership and support the proposal at the WTO for a temporary suspension of the TRIPS agreement, as outlined above, and refrain from blocking this proposal at the WTO MC12 meeting in November. Without progress at this meeting, thousands more people will be deprived of access to life saving vaccines and health technologies, risking lives and wreaking havoc on local economies for years to come.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Dan Poulter MP
Rt Hon Diane Abbott MP
Rt Hon Dame Diana Johnson MP
Debbie Abrahams MP
Kim Johnson MP
Lord Alton of Liverpool
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb
Baroness Barker
Darren Jones MP
Apsana Begum MP
Rt Hon Lord Jones
Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP
Ben Lake MP
Lord Bird
Ian Lavery MP
Lord Black of Brentwood
Chris Law MP
Baroness Blower
Clive Lewis MP
Rt Hon Lord Boateng
Baroness Lister of Butersett
Steven Bonnar MP
Tony Lloyd MP
Baroness Brinton
Rebecca Long-Bailey MP
Deidre Brock MP
Caroline Lucas MP
Rt Hon Lord Browne of Ladyton
Kenny MacAskill MP
Ian Byrne MP
Angus MacNeil MP
Lord Campbell-Savours
Baroness Masham of Ilton
Dan Carden MP
Chris Matheson MP
Lord Cashman
Andy McDonald MP
Rt Hon Baroness Chakrabarti
Anne Mcloughlin MP
Wendy Chamberlain MP
Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP
Sarah Champion MP
Layla Moran MP
Bambos Charalambous MP
Rt Hon Baroness Northover
Daisy Cooper MP
Kate Osborne MP
Rosie Cooper MP
Lord Purvis of Tweed
Rt Hon Jeremy Corbyn MP
Anum Qaisar MP
Baroness Cox
Rt Hon Lord Reid of Cardowan
Lord Crisp
Bell Riberio-Addy MP
Jon Cruddas MP
Lloyd Russell-Moyle MP
Lord Davies of Brixton
Lord Russell of Liverpool
Martyn Day MP
Virendra Sharma MP
Allan Dorans MP
Tommy Sheppard MP
Peter Dowd MP
Lord Sikka
Lord Dubs
Alyn Smith MP
Stephen Farry MP
Lord Strasburger of Langridge
Marion Fellows MP
Baroness Sugg
Mary Foy MP
Zarah Sultana MP
Barry Gardiner MP
Owen Thompson MP
Patricia Gibson MP
Richard Thomson MP
Patrick Grady MP
Baroness Thornhill
Andrew Gwynne MP
Baroness Tyler of Enfield
Claire Hanna MP
Claudia Webbe MP
Neale Hanvey MP
Nadia Whittome MP
Baroness Harris of Richmond
Dr Philippa Whitford MP
Helen Hayes MP
Beth Winter MP
Wera Hobhouse MP
Mohammad Yasin MP
Christine Jardine MP