At a ministerial meeting held at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in June 2022, member countries had reached a first agreement that allowed developing countries that wished to lift patents on anticovid vaccines for five years. .
This agreement is insufficient, according to the Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, made up of 18 independent experts whose opinions are not binding.
“It is not enough to fight the high rates of morbidity and mortality due to covid-19 among the people and groups most exposed to racial discrimination around the world,” they said in a statement published with the support of the Special Rapporteur for Nations on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Ashwini KP
Faced with this situation, the committee calls on “Northern States to renounce intellectual property rights related to vaccines, treatments and medical assistance technologies in relation to the covid-19 pandemic.”
Approximately 32% of the world’s population received at least one booster dose or one additional dose of vaccine, but in developing countries such as Gabon, Papua New Guinea, Burundi and Madagascar this proportion is less than 1%, notes the committee citing data from World Health Organization.
© 2023 AFP
2023-08-31 13:21:08
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