05/06/2021

Patent protection for Corona vaccines

Biden's initiative could help disadvantaged groups (Press Release)

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) has called on the German government and the European Commission to suspend patent protection for Corona vaccines. "If, as a consequence, it were possible to produce significantly more vaccine doses, this would primarily benefit groups that are currently disadvantaged," explained Dr. Kamal Sido, STP expert on minorities and nationalities. "Otherwise, ethnic minorities, internally displaced persons, and people in war and crisis zones have no chance of receiving a vaccination in the foreseeable future." Further, Sido emphasized that people living in refugee camps are still especially at risk due to the crowded conditions and the problematic sanitation.

"So far, the World Health Organization has provided less than 700 vaccine doses to the more than five million people in northern Syria," Sido criticized. "In a region where the people are weakened after years of civil war, this won't help to contain the pandemic at all." Thus, the only option would be to produce as many vaccine doses as possible – and as quickly as possible. "Many governments in the world are systematically disadvantaging large parts of their populations. This is precisely where the WHO could and should take action by distributing vaccines," Sido demanded. "Even a temporary suspension of patent protection on Corona vaccines could save countless lives – especially among the Muslim populations of India and Myanmar, the Christian minorities of the Middle East, and also the indigenous peoples of Latin America."