Colm O'Gorman: Unequal access to Covid-19 vaccines is a human rights crisis

Amnesty International was founded in 1961 by British lawyer Peter Benenson. Beneson was outraged at the idea that people could be imprisoned, tortured or executed for their political or other beliefs. He wrote a rallying call in a national newspaper, calling for people everywhere to come together and demand that governments respect and protect human rights. The movement he began is now global, with 10 million supporters coming together under his belief that only when the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a reality for the world’s people will our work be done”.

The video artwork Freedom Flight by Art for Amnesty beautifully encompasses this vision, showing us that humanity in action is humanity acting for each other. It was created to mark Amnesty’s 60th anniversary, and released during a historic time that challenges the very core of our collective ethics and beliefs.

In the year that has passed since the waiver was first proposed, only 7 per cent of low-income countries have been vaccinated and 3.6 million people have died from Covid-19

The catastrophic moral failure of the leaders of rich countries, including Ireland, in the face of the global pandemic is a call to action like no other.

One year ago, South Africa and India called for a TRIPS waiver at the World Trade Organisation. A TRIPS waiver would allow a temporary suspension of intellectual property rights so that vaccines and other Covid-related medical products could be produced by far more countries. This would also mean that just a few pharmaceutical companies couldn’t hold a monopoly on production, cost and who gets them. It was supported by low- and middle-income countries. It was blocked and continues to be blocked by rich countries, including Ireland. In the year that has passed since the waiver was first proposed, only 7 per cent of low-income countries have been vaccinated and 3.6 million people have died from Covid-19. The true death toll is likely far, far higher.

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Interdependent

Covid has shown us we are truly interconnected and interdependent. We are all safe, or none of us is safe. It has also shown us that collective action is needed, action grounded in solidarity and ethics but also in our self-interest. When only richer countries have access to vaccines, the virus is allowed to run rampant around the world. And as medics and scientists have repeatedly warned, this is creating the perfect breeding ground for new variants. Omicron is here in Ireland and is spreading fast around the world. One thing is certain: new variants, and quite probably more dangerous ones, will continue to emerge until everyone, everywhere is vaccinated.

But even without the risk of variants, the hoarding of Covid vaccines and the blocking by rich countries of the TRIPs waiver so poorer countries cannot produce their own is violating peoples’ human rights. It is also deeply cruel, unjust, and unethical. As one of my South African colleagues explained recently, poorer countries have lost the very fabric of their society as an older generation has been left to die, while some of their population were used to trial the safety of the very vaccines that they are now denied.

From the beginning, rich countries told the rest of the world to rely on charity while they hoarded vaccines and prolonged the pandemic, putting the profits of pharma companies ahead of the lives, health and human rights of billions of people. They made pledges of redistributing vaccines, pledges that have only half materialised or are for 2022 or beyond. They said the world didn’t need TRIPS because all these other mechanisms existed, and though none of them have worked for a year now, apparently at some stage, magically they will.

Technology

They said only a few companies had the technology to make the new type of vaccines so sharing the patents would be pointless; this has also been proven false.

Human rights organisations are unequivocal that the unequal access to Covid vaccines is a human rights crisis

They said that even temporarily waiving their intellectual property rights would be an interference in the market, as if the massive injection of public money which helped develop the vaccines was not itself already unprecedented.

They said that waiving intellectual property rights would stifle innovation, despite all the evidence to the contrary. And as these countries keep on resisting what is simply morally right, millions of people continue to suffer and die, and we all remain at risk.

Human rights organisations are unequivocal that the unequal access to Covid vaccines is a human rights crisis. Over 400 Irish medics and scientists have called on the Government to support public health by supporting the TRIPS waiver. Pharmaceutical companies want their profits to be protected.

So the question is now, a year later, who will the Government side with? Will our governments finally put people’s lives and human rights ahead of the massive profits of pharmaceutical companies? Will they finally hear our call to action and end this pandemic?