German Health Minister Jens Spahn and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have staunchly opposed the TRIPS waiver.
Link to the source article >> https://healthpolicy-watch.news/pressure-on-future-german-leader-to-support-trips-waiver/
More than 140 former heads of state and Nobel laureates have called on the three candidates in line to be the next German chancellor to declare themselves in favour of waiving intellectual property on COVID-19 vaccines and transferring vaccine technologies.
Germany is leading the European Commission’s refusal to accept the so-called TRIPS waiver proposal put forward by South Africa and India at the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
However, German elections on 26 September could unseat Angela Merkel’s ruling Christian Democratic Union Party, which has steadfastly opposed the TRIPS waiver – apparently in support of BioNTech-Pfizer.
In the letter, addressed to Annalena Baerbock, Olaf Scholz, and Armin Laschet, sent on Wednesday, the signatories stress that German support for waiving patents is vital to overcoming vaccine monopolies, transferring vaccine technology and scaling up vaccine manufacturing around the world to prevent millions more deaths from COVID-19.
Signatories include former French President François Hollande, former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, former Malawian President Joyce Banda and Helen Clark, New Zealand’s former prime minister.
Nobel prize winners include Professor Joseph Stiglitz, Professor Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Elfriede Jelinek.
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