Author: Sumin Lee

By Maansa Gurram – Free the Vaccine Student Lead

Sharing a brief update on the latest action to fight for global equity in access to vaccines!

On Thursday, April 28th, activists from Free the Vaccine for COVID-19 in conjunction with partners and advocates from People’s Action, Health GAP and others gathered in Boston in front of the pharmacutical corporation Moderna to fight for a people’s vaccine. This was the day of the Moderna shareholders meeting at which Moderna’s profits were to be announced. As the COVID-19 crisis continues to rage in the Global South, an inequitable and vastly insufficient global vaccination effort threatens the lives of people around the world, including in the United States. Moderna generated over 6 billion USD in revenue for the first quarter of 2022 and made $12 billion in profits in 2021. 

Students, politicians, doctors, lawyers, and individuals from all different walks of life came together to share their stories and demand that Moderna put people over profit. The number of deaths from COVID-19 are now estimated to be over 15 million according to the World Health Organization and despite high income nations trying to open up, COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are still rising in many parts of the world. None of us are safe until all of us are safe.

Moderna holds the power to greatly increase access to the vaccine  and decrease the burden of Covid-19 by sharing the science and sharing the intellectual property rights to produce the vaccine. Activists rallied for three days, where they participated in actions to increase the pressure on Moderna. Actions included marching from Galaxy Park to Moderna Headquarters, calls to the CEO of Moderna, leading teach-ins, calls to individuals with power to share the wealth,  a vigil, and much more. The efforts brought attention to the urgency of the situation and the call to action given to Moderna in doing its part to end the pandemic and our “Sharing is Caring” carebears made they own appearance again!

Onwards!

On May 12, 2022, President Biden announced a licensing agreement between the NIH and WHO Covid-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP).

The announcement was made by the US Government at the second Global COVID-19 Summit, co-hosted by the United States, Belize, Germany, Indonesia and Senegal. Launched in 2020 by the WHO Director-General and the President of Costa Rica, and supported by 43 Member States, C-TAP aims to facilitate timely, equitable and affordable access to COVID-19 health products by boosting their production and supply through open, transparent and non-exclusive licensing agreements. 

Since the early stages of the pandemic, UAEM and Free the Vaccine teams have been urging universities to support C-TAP. This news is well received and leading institutions should follow suit.

Read more about the agreement here: https://www.who.int/news/item/12-05-2022-who-and-mpp-announce-agreement-with-nih-for-covid-19-health-technologies

WHEN: Wednesday, May 4^th at 8 p.m. ET

WHERE: Lafayette Park in Front of the White House (set up starts 7:30pm)

On the evening of May 4^th, Public Citizen and our allies will hold a candlelight vigil in front of the White House marking the one-year anniversary since President Biden announced U.S. support for the TRIPS waiver at the WTO. A year later, the WTO has failed to deliver this important waiver, while the pandemic rages.

As part of the vigil, we will project video messages from Ady Barkan and a number of international civil society leaders on a huge screen calling on President Biden to secure a true TRIPS waiver that covers COVID-19 vaccines, testing, and treatments and demand Congress pass funding to vaccinate the world and save lives. 

The event will be live-streamed on Facebook/Twitter and any cross-posting partners are welcome. 

Please join us if you are able to, and please share this email with folks in your network!

For more information, please contact Ryan Harvey (rharvey@citizen.org) or (202-454-5129).

“The patent office holds sway over huge swaths of the U.S. economy,” said Priti Krishtel, an attorney and co-founder of the Initiative for Medicines, Access and Knowledge, a nonprofit dedicated to patent system reform. “It has the power to shape markets, and just about every industry you can think of, from agriculture to technology, is impacted by its shortcomings.”

It has been argued for decades that patents are essential for American innovation. However, many patents only modify what is already existing and rarely contribute a completely new discovery, extending product monopolies for decades and adding billions to soaring health care costs. There is a severe need for reform of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. While it is concerning that the agency has spent the past year without a permanent director, there is an opportunity to modernize and fortify the patent system in the following ways. There must be an enforcement of existing standards, improvement in the process for challenging bad patents, elimination of potential conflicts of interest, collaboration with other agencies and public participation. The patent system affects everyone, therefore, it is only fair to allow people to gain a voice in what is right.

You can read more here:

As students and citizens who have directly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, we have a responsibility to make sure our government is working to ensure access to COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics to bring about a more equitable end to the pandemic for EVERYONE. The U.S. needs to share its vaccine technologies with the rest of the world. If you agree with this statement and you support vaccine equity, then sign the petition below.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd9UWRAyJrNqezYuV6ki50kI5k7HKi6y65NJBk-Pb9iYLwlow/viewform

The idea that “no one is safe until everyone is safe” is more than just a slogan. Prioritizing the expansion of the COVID vaccine, test and treatment production needed to prevent needless death and suffering abroad is both a moral imperative and a matter of justice. Global vaccine and treatment equity is also critical to protecting the future for students like ourselves.

As the COVID-19 crisis continues to rage in the Global South, an inequitable and vastly insufficient global vaccination effort threatens the lives of people around the world, including in the U.S.

Over the last two years, a diverse coalition of groups of public health, trade policy, and access to medicine organizations have been campaigning for global cooperation to end the pandemic. We are now stepping up organizing and mobilization to ensure we get COVID-19 vaccines on the scale we need around the globe. This spring we plan to specifically ramp up pressure on Moderna to license mRNA vaccine technology culminating in a game changing grassroots mobilization around their annual shareholder meeting.

JOIN US on April 28th, 2022 at 5pm with a march starting at Galaxy Park in Cambridge. There will be virtual ways to engage through story sharing, social media actions, and supporting one of our teams from afar.

Sign Up for the Townhall Here:

https://www.crowdcast.io/e/lczwm3wi/register

Sign Up for the Protest Here:

https://actionnetwork.org/events/share-science-end-covid/

Endorsing Organizations:

Justice is Global
Health GAP
Mass Care
Right Care Alliance
Students for Solidarity
Right to Health Action
Boston DSA
Free the Vaccine for COVID-19
Universities Allied for Essential Medicines
Massachusetts Peace Action
Massachussetts Community Action Network
ACT UP Boston
(more on the way!)

Alan Rossi Silva and Luciana M. N. Lopes represent Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM), a global student-driven organization in defense of universal access to medicines and a fair biomedical innovation system. Alan is a PhD candidate in Law at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) and Luciana is a PhD student in Public Health at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), in Brazil. She is also the Executive Director for UAEM in Latin America.

Read more about The Compromise Version of the TRIPS Waiver and the Illusion of Victory as Luciana and Alan urge to not accept this ‘compromise’ of the TRIPS waiver agreement.