Helping India
Apr. 26th, 2021 06:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ermingardendeepad has posted information here about the devastating COVID surge in India and what people in other countries can do to help. In short: A key issue when it comes to vaccine equity is intellectual property protections. Over 100 countries support a proposed temporary waiver of intellectual property rights - a WTO TRIPS waiver - related to COVID vaccines. This waiver would allow vaccines to be manufactured generically worldwide, leading to a significant increase in vaccine production. The vast majority of the development costs of the COVID-19 vaccines were paid for through public funds, making it especially perverse to insist on patent enforcement. As Professors Madhavi Sunder and Matthew Kavanagh of Georgetown University observe: "These technologies, paid for by taxes, should be treated as public goods—compensating innovators fairly, but not with a global monopoly over producing and pricing vaccines critical to saving lives and ending the pandemic." (Bloomberg Law)
For US, UK, and EU residents:
deepad's post includes sample scripts for calling your representatives and urging them to support a WTO TRIPS waiver. I called my representative and also sent an email through the contact form on his website; I'll be calling my senators' offices next. deepad also highlighted bit.ly/MutualAidIndia, a list of on-the-ground relief efforts seeking donations, including from overseas.
