rich 1.0 Action Network https://actionnetwork.org <link href='https://actionnetwork.org/css/style-embed-v3.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><script src='https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v6/letter/demand-equal-access-to-covid-19-vaccines-across-the-globe?format=js&source=widget'></script><div id='can-letter-area-demand-equal-access-to-covid-19-vaccines-across-the-globe' style='width: 100%'><!-- this div is the target for our HTML insertion --></div> Canadian Foreign Policy Institute https://actionnetwork.org/groups/canadian-foreign-foreign-policy-institute https://can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/share_options/facebook_images/000/274/981/original/Facebook_Covid_Image.png Please join me in writing a letter to all MPs telling them that health is more important than intellectual property rights. The Canadian government has opposed a proposal by India and South Africa calling for a waiver of certain WTO rules on intellectual property rights to allow countries to produce COVID-19 vaccines. Ninety-nine countries have already expressed their support for the initiative that would last until the World Health Organization declares the pandemic over. To make Canada’s position worse, it tops the list of countries accused of hoarding Covid 19 vaccines, having purchased 5 times the number of vaccines required to inoculate the entire population. On the other hand, 70 lower income countries will only have enough vaccines to cover 1 in ten people in 2021. The “Waiver from Certain Provisions of the TRIPS Agreement for the Prevention, Containment and Treatment of COVID-19” could save many lives by allowing countries to make better and faster use of new information around vaccines, expediting the manufacture of required medicines and equipment. The waiver proposal will be voted on by the WTO General Council on December 16-17 and Canada needs to support this initiative. https://actionnetwork.org/letters/demand-equal-access-to-covid-19-vaccines-across-the-globe