|
 Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Oxfam, Public Citizen and
11 other groups told Biden in a letter that an emergency waiver was
urgently needed to combat the pandemic, noting that fewer than 7% of
people in low-income countries had received a first COVID-19 vaccine
and vaccines remained scarce.
More than 5.4 million people have died of COVID-19 around the world
since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.
Biden reversed the previous U.S. position to endorse a waiver in
May, a move that caught some allies by surprise, but there has been
little progress since then. The European Union, Britain and
Switzerland remain opposed, arguing that issuing such waivers would
undercut years of investment and research.
The White House last month called on all WTO members to support a
temporary waiver and WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is
pushing for a deal at the WTO ministerial conference in Geneva from
Nov. 30 to Dec. 3.
In their letter, a copy of which was viewed by Reuters, the rights
groups said they were "very disappointed" that the Biden
administration had not done more to secure an agreement on a waiver
text since Biden's strong statement in May.
"U.S. passivity has empowered close U.S. allies - the European
Union, on behalf of Germany, plus Switzerland and the United Kingdom
- to block progress even as millions die or become seriously ill
waiting for effective vaccines and treatments," the groups wrote.
[to top of second column] |
 They urged Biden to step up his
personal engagement and lead the world in
reaching a meaningful agreement on the
long-standing issue. Doing so would help end the
pandemic and restore U.S. standing around the
world, they said.
The White House had no immediate comment on the
letter, which was dated Friday.
Ending the ministerial meeting without a waiver
agreement would be entirely unacceptable," the
groups said. They said drugmakers were using
their intellectual property rights to segment
global markets instead of maximizing the scale
of generic production.
They said a separate effort to issue a
"declaration on trade and health" led by David
Walker, the New Zealand envoy to the WTO, would
"further undermine the WTO's relevance and
legitimacy" in the absence of a meaningful
property rights waiver.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Stephen
Coates)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content
 |
