The Council of Global Union (CGU), representing over 200 million workers, has urged UK, Switzerland, Germany and the EU Commission to stop blocking efforts to waive vaccine patents. The largest council of global unions believe action must and can be taken this week to urgently enable vaccine production in the Global South.
The demand from unions for a World Trade Organisation (WTO) waiver on intellectual property rights for Covid vaccines comes as the new Omicron variant emerges from countries which have been denied the right to produce their own vaccines. It also comes amidst renewed momentum and urgency from world leaders, with President Biden and the European Parliament - the only EU institution elected by citizens - reiterating their calls for intellectual property waivers on vaccines.
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