Nursing unions in 28 countries have filed a formal appeal with the United Nations over the refusal of the UK, EU and others to temporarily waive patents for Covid vaccines, saying this has cost huge numbers of lives in developing nations. South Africa, along with India, has been pressing the World Trade Organization (WTO) to help improve access to vaccines by waiving the multinational Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (Trips) agreement. A temporary waiver on Trips provisions for Covid vaccines would, supporters say, allow them to be manufactured more widely, improving global distribution. On Friday, the US president, Joe Biden, called for WTO members to take this step following the emergence of the Omicron variant. The role that health workers have played during the pandemic “provides them with moral authority” over the issue, she added.

Source: The Guardian November 30, 2021 03:06 UTC