Rich country blocking results in failure to produce pandemic treaty

Responding to the news that no agreement has yet been reached in pandemic accord negotiations, Mohga Kamal-Yanni, Senior Policy Advisor for the People’s Vaccine Alliance said:

“It is high time that rich countries act for the benefit of all humanity by ending their obstruction to the meaningful binding commitments that would ensure much-needed equity in the treaty. The ensuing negotiations require movement on critical issues including technology transfer, removing intellectual property barriers, benefit sharing from accessing pathogens, and financing to ensure a treaty that prevents a repeat of the terrible failures of COVID-19.

“There has been tremendous pressure on low- and middle-income countries to share pathogens without any commitment to share the resulting medical products, technology, or know-how.

“There remains the opportunity to deliver a meaningful treaty at the World Health Assembly. But that will require serious concessions from wealthy countries like the UK, EU, and the USA. A treaty is important for all nations but the North must recognise that equity is essential – not optional.”

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Media contact:

Christy Clemence, Head of Global Campaigns, People’s Vaccine Alliance

Email: [email protected]