Applause as Australia Backs Covid Vaccine Patent Waiver

"The British and German governments have no allies or excuses left. They must stop obstructing efforts to waive patents so that we can finally vaccinate the world."
—Nick Dearden, Global Justice Now 

"Australia's support for a waiver puts the WTO in a strong position to make progress at next week's TRIPS council meeting," said Nick Dearden, director of the organization. 

Advocates in Australia urged Tehan to follow his remarks with decisive action at next week's meeting. 

U.S. President Joe Biden announced in May that he would support waiving intellectual property rights for the vaccines to ensure people in developing countries can be inoculated—protecting those populations and the entire world, as low levels of vaccination in the Global South have allowed numerous variants of Covid-19 to spread. 

More than 100 other nations including France have also backed a TRIPS waiver, leaving Germany and the United Kingdom as the most powerful nations standing in the way of global vaccine equity and a speedier end to the pandemic. 

"The British and German governments have no allies or excuses left," said Dearden. "They must stop obstructing efforts to waive patents so that we can finally vaccinate the world."

Australia has fully vaccinated over 40% of its population, according to an analysis by Reuters. More than 80% of vaccine doses have been administered in wealthy countries, while 0.4% have been given in low-income countries. 

Sophie McNeill, Australia researcher for Human Rights Watch, credited advocates with pressuring the country into supporting the TRIPS waiver. 

"Now we need firm action from Australia at the WTO," said McNeill.