UK government ‘placing pharmaceutical profits over lives’ in pandemic treaty talks, campaigners warn
Date: 28 April 2024
Campaigns: Pharma
The UK government is threatening to render the proposed pandemic treaty “toothless” and is “placing pharmaceutical profits over lives”, global health campaigners have warned.
This comes as UK, EU and US officials have joined forces to block proposals by global south countries in last minute negotiations in Geneva, which start on Monday.(1)
The contested proposals include measures to ensure equitable global access to medicines in future pandemics, and for limits on pharmaceutical monopolies.
The pandemic talks, taking place at the World Health Organisation (WHO), are expected to lead to a treaty which will strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response following the Covid-19 pandemic. Negotiations were initiated by WHO member states in 2021.
Intended to prevent a repeat of the deep global inequalities faced by global south regions during the Covid pandemic, the proposed treaty sets out proposals to improve international coordination around factors including data sharing, research, and production and distribution of vaccines and medical care.
Many governments had hoped the new pandemic treaty could prevent the injustice of unequal vaccine access being repeated. However, campaigners argue that rich countries’ governments are undermining this by blocking proposals which would allow for easier sharing of vaccine ‘know-how’ in future global health crises’.
Currently, only 32.7% of people in low-income countries have received at least one Covid vaccine, less than half the global figure of 70.6%.
During the pandemic, the South African and Indian governments proposed suspending intellectual property on Covid-19 vaccines and medical products until vaccination rates were significantly boosted in low and middle-income countries.
However, these proposals were scrapped after governments of rich countries, including the UK, vetoed the measures.
The pandemic treaty negotiations are expected to reach their conclusion by next month, with the treaty to be finalised shortly after.
However, health experts have warned against finalising the treaty until contentious issues are agreed, stating that while “equity was the driving force behind countries’ participation in negotiations”, the negotiation process “does not align with this vision”.
Nick Dearden, director of UK-based NGO Global Justice Now and author of Pharmanomics said:
“Once again, the British government is doing the bidding of Big Pharma by attempting to render the pandemic treaty toothless, placing pharmaceutical profits over lives once more.
“If we are truly to learn the lessons of the Covid-19 pandemic, we must ensure we never again allow big pharmaceutical corporations to monopolise life-saving medicines and knowledge in the middle of a global health crisis.
“Public investment, public sector workers and community responsibility ended the Covid pandemic. Meanwhile, pharmaceutical greed caused the unnecessary loss of tens of thousands of lives, because big corporations were allowed to monopolise and hoard medical knowledge which should have been shared freely with the world.
“Today, our government seems content to repeat these mistakes and double down on this unconscionable and dangerous injustice.”
Notes
- WHO Member States agree to resume negotiations aimed at finalizing the world’s first pandemic agreement , https://www.who.int/news/item/28-03-2024-who-member-states-agree-to-resume-negotiations-aimed-at-finalizing-the-world-s-first-pandemic-agreement
- Pharmanomics: How Big Pharma Destroys Global Health was published by Verso in 2023: https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/3036-pharmanomics
