July, 14 2021, 01:46pm EDT
As Delta Variant Rages, Public Health, Other Experts Urge Biden to Use Merkel Summit to End German Blockage of WTO TRIPS Waiver for COVID-19 Vaccines
Oxfam Germany, Partners In Health, Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar, Public Citizen, Nobel Laureate Economist Prof. Joseph Stiglitz and Rep. Jan Schakowsky Say Biden-Merkel Summit a Failure If No Progress on TRIPS Waiver
WASHINGTON
Today, experts in public health and economics as well as religious and congressional leaders urged President Joe Biden to use his July 15 summit with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to convince her to end her opposition to a COVID-19 intellectual property waiver so that production of vaccines and treatments can be scaled up worldwide to save lives. The Biden-Merkel summit will be a failure unless it includes an agreement for Germany to join the U.S. in supporting the waiver and prioritizing the fastest possible end of the pandemic.
In May, the Biden administration declared support for an emergency waiver of WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS). Many nations followed the administration's lead. However, despite support for the waiver from France and other European nations, Germany has used WTO consensus rules to block the 130-plus nations that view a waiver as key to boosting production of vaccines and other medical supplies. The rising Delta variant makes it brutally clear that the world is not winning the battles between vaccines and variants, or between treatments and needless deaths, or between tests and raging outbreaks.
Merkel's singular role as the obstacle has made the D.C. summit a critical test of whether President Joe Biden can deliver on his goal of a TRIPS waiver unlocking global vaccine and treatment access. If Biden cannot move Merkel at the summit, his initiative to save tens of millions of lives could fail despite his historic support for the waiver. Merkel risks destroying her legacy as a humanitarian leader in the migration crisis by appearing to be a Big Pharma shill prioritizing corporate monopolies over millions of people's lives.
Video of today's event is available here.
Statements from speakers:
Father Charlie Chilufya, Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar, Director of Justice and Ecology: "President Joe Biden's July 15 White House summit with German Chancellor Angela Merkel will be an epic moral failure unless it ends Germany's blockage of an emergency WTO waiver to facilitate production of more COVID-19 vaccines and treatments needed to save millions of lives. This health crisis is now also a global justice crisis, a failure of humanity. We think that President Biden has the leverage and can ask Angela Merkel to look toward those who are suffering in Africa, Latin America and in Asia, and join him in preventing unnecessary deaths. America has provided leadership before. And by supporting the COVID medicine waiver, and leading other rich countries to join the U.S., America has already started showing leadership. Now President Biden can move Merkel and Germany, to have compassion, to have kindness and to prioritize human life and not profits. President Biden's faith is a central part of his commitment to social justice. Our Catholic social teaching prioritizes over all else respect for the dignity of the human person. And I would like to appeal to my fellow Catholic, I would like to appeal to the president of America to continue doing as he is doing, but even do more: Get Germany to do what should be done now, support the waiver, so that more medicines may be produced and may be availed to everyone, every country, and everywhere. This is President Biden's moment for true global leadership."
Marian Lieser, Oxfam Germany, Executive Director: "Chancellor Merkel must immediately change course and stand up for people's lives over pharmaceutical profits. She must follow the lead of President Biden and more than 100 other nations in backing a waiver on intellectual property for the vaccines at the WTO. This would allow more manufacturers, especially in the Global South, to start producing the vaccines needed in their countries. They have the skills, knowledge, and capacities to do so - if only they are no longer blocked by a wall of intellectual property rights. It's time to tear down this wall."
Dr. Joia Mukherjee, Partners In Health, Chief Medical Officer: "Every day, billions of people around the world hope against hope for the chance to take a COVID vaccine, but cruel and foolish monopolies continue to keep vaccines out of reach, with ever-more-fatal results. I call on Chancellor Angela Merkel to join leaders of more than 150 countries and endorse a TRIPS Waiver."
U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.): "With a third wave of COVID-19 raging in many parts of the world and threatening variants emerging, we are in dire need of a TRIPS waiver NOW. While Germany dithers at the WTO, repeating the same talking points, Pfizer is profiting from human suffering. The United States and almost every other WTO member wants a TRIPS waiver as quickly as possible. Chancellor Merkel must join President Biden in supporting the waiver, and protect people worldwide from the worst health threat in a century. We cannot afford any more deaths at the hands of vaccine nationalism and pharma monopolies. We need shots in arms, and we need them NOW."
Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel Laureate Economist and Columbia University Professor: "There are so many compelling arguments -- from morality to our self-interest, our own health to economics and also this fundamental battle for hearts and minds of people all over the world -- that make supporting this waiver a no-brainer. There won't be a global economic recovery until the disease is put under control everywhere in the world. It is estimated that the loss in output from the delay in getting vaccines to everybody in the world is the trillions of dollars...We have to remember, the magnitude of the pandemic downturn is so large that it too has health consequences. As more and more people get pushed into poverty, more and more people will die and people will not have access to other aspects of health that they need... I'm an academic, like Angela Merkel who is a physicist, and we understand the importance of intellectual property. But intellectual property is a social construction that is meant to advance the wellbeing of our society. With the waiver, there is no change in the basic intellectual property framework associated with the waiver. It is not taking away intellectual property rights. It is reducing transaction costs. Why is this so important? Because time is important... We can't wait for the months and years that it would take to go country by country, product by product. We need a waiver. ... Let me emphasize, the drug companies do get compensated even though most of the research was paid for by the public. ... The bottleneck that the market can't solve is the intellectual property bottleneck. That's where politics, that's where Merkel's actions and Germany's actions are so important today. ... We are engaged in a battle over values. We're talking here about the values of lives over monopoly profits."
Lori Wallach, Director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch: "The world expected Chancellor Merkel to be with President Biden, South Africa's and France's presidents and India's Prime Minister leading for a waiver to unlock the greater global vaccine and treatment production worldwide necessary to stop the pandemics, not blocking the rest of the world and threatening to replace her legacy as a humanitarian with the image of a Big Pharma shill. With his historic support for the waiver, President Biden showed the world the U.S. was back, but to show U.S. global leadership, at this summit he must get Germany to stop blocking what the president says is a U.S. priority to save tens of millions of lives.
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power. We defend democracy, resist corporate power and work to ensure that government works for the people - not for big corporations. Founded in 1971, we now have 500,000 members and supporters throughout the country.
(202) 588-1000LATEST NEWS
With Help From Vance, Senate GOP Votes to Decimate Medicaid to Fund Tax Cuts for Rich
"Historians—and voters—will look back at this as a dark day in U.S. history."
Jul 01, 2025
With a tie-breaking vote from Vice President JD Vance, Senate Republicans on Tuesday narrowly passed budget legislation that includes the largest cuts to Medicaid and nutrition assistance in U.S. history and trillions of dollars in tax breaks that would disproportionately benefit the wealthiest Americans.
The Senate tally was 50-50 prior to Vance's intervention, with Democrats unanimously opposed and Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), and Susan Collins (R-Maine) crossing the aisle to vote against the bill, which now heads back to the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
"JD Vance was the deciding vote to cut Medicaid across the country," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) wrote in response to the Senate vote. "An absolute and utter betrayal of working families."
The 887-page legislation includes more than $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program over the next decade—cuts that would result in nearly 12 million people losing health coverage. Analysts and advocates warn the proposed cuts would have cascading effects across the country, shuttering rural hospitals and devastating state budgets.
"Senate Republicans just voted to close nursing homes and hospitals around the country. These cuts will hit rural areas hardest, but nowhere is safe," said Alex Lawson, executive director of the progressive advocacy group Social Security Works. "Even if your local hospital doesn't close, it will have more patients and fewer staff due to the loss of Medicaid funding. Half of nursing homes will lose staff, and a quarter will close. All to give trillions in tax handouts to billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos."
"In the end, billionaire political donors want a return on their investment, and Trump and Republicans are determined to give it to them with trillions in new handouts. The rest of us will suffer for it."
The measure also takes an ax to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—imperiling food aid for millions and potentially inflicting major damage to local economies across the U.S.—as well as clean energy programs, Planned Parenthood funding, and more.
Even with such seismic cuts, the Senate bill would still add more than $3 trillion to the deficit over the next 10 years due to the size of the measure's tax breaks, which would flow primarily to the rich and large corporations. Experts have said that, if enacted, the Republican legislation would spur the largest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in a single law in U.S. history.
"This abominable bill will make history—in appalling ways," said Amy Hanauer, executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. "Never before has legislation taken so much from struggling families to give so much to the richest. It makes the biggest cuts to food aid for hungry families, executes the largest cuts to healthcare ever, adds trillions to the national debt—all to give $114 billion to the richest 1% in a single year. It's no wonder that this bill is also extremely unpopular. Historians—and voters—will look back at this as a dark day in U.S. history."
The bill also contains a $150 billion boost for the Pentagon and tens of billions for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"This Republican bill is about caviar over kids, hedge funds over healthcare, and Mar-a-Lago over the middle class," said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee. "If this becomes law, only the ultrawealthy will make it through unscathed. Every other American will be hurt in one way or another, whether it's cancer patients losing their health coverage, kids going hungry, or families being forced to pay higher utility bills and insurance premiums."
"In the end, billionaire political donors want a return on their investment, and [President Donald] Trump and Republicans are determined to give it to them with trillions in new handouts," Wyden added. "The rest of us will suffer for it. The United States will be a weaker, sicker, and poorer country as a direct result of what the Republicans are doing."
The Senate just passed the largest cut to low-income programs in a single law in US history. It would rip health insurance from more than 10 million people and take food assistance away from millions of households, including families with children and veterans.
— Bobby Kogan (@BBKogan) July 1, 2025
House Republicans are expected to move quickly to pass the Senate-approved legislation before Trump's July 4 deadline, but the bill appears likely to face significant pushback—particularly from far-right members who believe the measure's spending cuts aren't sufficiently aggressive.
Punchbowlreported that the House Rules Committee is expected to meet Tuesday "to begin to prepare the bill for floor consideration."
"The full House is expected back in Washington Wednesday morning, giving the chamber two days to pass the package before" July 4, the outlet noted.
Senate Republican leaders locked in the bill's passage after winning the support of Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). The American Prospect's David Dayen reported that Murkowski "was able to secure a waiver from cost-sharing provisions that would for the first time force states to pay for part of" SNAP.
"In order to get that past the Senate parliamentarian, 10 states with the highest payment error rates had to be eligible for the five-year waiver, including big states like New York and Florida, and several blue states as well," Dayen explained. "The expanded SNAP waivers mean that in the short term, only certain states with average or even below-average payment error rates will have to pay into their SNAP program; already, the language provided that states with the lowest error rates wouldn't have to pay."
After voting for the bill, Murkowski suggested that Republicans in the House should change it—meaning it would have to pass the Senate again before reaching Trump's desk.
David Kass, executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness, said in a statement that "this fight is not over," pointing to the House Republicans who have "voiced concern about the massive cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, in addition to the trillions this bill adds to the national debt."
"Since the House last voted for the bill, the Senate has only made the bill more expensive and enacted more cuts to critical programs that their constituents rely on," said Kass. "The question is: Will House members stand up for their constituents, or blindly follow Trump and his elite backers?"
Keep ReadingShow Less
US- and Israel-Backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation Must Be Shut Down, Say 165+ Charities
Distribution points run by the group, warns the NGO coalition, "have become sites of repeated massacres in blatant disregard for international humanitarian law."
Jul 01, 2025
More than 165 nongovernmental organizations on Tuesday issued a joint call to shut down the "deadly Israeli distribution scheme" for humanitarian assistance in the Gaza Strip, return to relief efforts coordinated by the United Nations, and end Israel's blockade on aid and commercial supplies into the destroyed Palestinian enclave.
The U.S.- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began operations in late May, over widespread objections. As the joint statement explains, "The 400 aid distribution points operating during the temporary cease-fire across Gaza have now been replaced by just four military-controlled distribution sites, forcing 2 million people into overcrowded, militarized zones where they face daily gunfire and mass casualties while trying to access food and are denied other lifesaving supplies."
"Starved and weakened civilians are being forced to trek for hours through dangerous terrain and active conflict zones, only to face a violent, chaotic race to reach fenced, militarized distribution sites."
"The weeks following the launch of the Israeli distribution scheme have been some of the deadliest and most violent since October 2023," the statement notes. The Gaza Health Ministry says Israel's nearly 21-month assault has killed at least 56,647 Palestinians—and, as of Sunday, at least 583 of those deaths occurred while people sought food at GHF sites.
Another 4,186 Palestinians have been injured at the aid sites, according to the ministry. Overall, at least 134,105 have been wounded by the Israel Defense Forces' campaign since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack. Some IDF troops toldHaaretz last week that commanders ordered them to shoot and shell aid-seeking Palestinians, even when they posed no threat.
"For 20 months, more than 2 million people have been subjected to relentless bombardment, the weaponization of food, water, and other aid, repeated forced displacement, and systematic dehumanization—all under the watch of the international community," the NGOs detailed. "The Sphere Association, which sets minimum standards for quality humanitarian aid, has warned that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's approach does not adhere to core humanitarian standards and principles."
"Under the Israeli government's new scheme, starved and weakened civilians are being forced to trek for hours through dangerous terrain and active conflict zones, only to face a violent, chaotic race to reach fenced, militarized distribution sites with a single entry point," the groups wrote. "There, thousands are released into chaotic enclosures to fight for limited food supplies."
"These areas have become sites of repeated massacres in blatant disregard for international humanitarian law," the coalition continued. "Orphaned children and caregivers are among the dead, with children harmed in over half of the attacks on civilians at these sites. With Gaza's healthcare system in ruins, many of those shot are left to bleed out alone, beyond the reach of ambulances and denied lifesaving medical care."
Today, over 130 NGOs have called for the restoration of unified, UN-led aid coordination and distribution in #Gaza based on international humanitarian law, inclusive of UNRWA.👉 www.oxfam.org/en/press-rel...@oxfaminternational.bsky.social @nrc-global.bsky.social @savechildrenintl.bsky.social
[image or embed]
— UNRWA (@unrwa.org) July 1, 2025 at 7:53 AM
The NGOs asserted that "the humanitarian system is being deliberately and systematically dismantled by the government of Israel's blockade and restrictions, a blockade now being used to justify shutting down nearly all other aid operations in favor of a deadly, military-controlled alternative that neither protects civilians nor meets basic needs."
The organizations also stressed that "experienced humanitarian actors remain ready to deliver lifesaving assistance at scale."
In addition to calling on other countries to "uphold their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law," and to "reject the false choice between deadly, military-controlled food distributions and total denial of aid," the groups reiterated their demands for "an immediate and sustained cease-fire, the release of all hostages and arbitrarily detained prisoners, full humanitarian access at scale, and an end to the pervasive impunity that enables these atrocities and denies Palestinians their basic dignity."
Signatories include ActionAid, American Friends Service Committee, Amnesty International, B'Tselem, Greenpeace, Islamic Relief Worldwide, Jewish Network for Palestine, Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), Norwegian Refugee Council, Oxfam International, PAX, Physicians for Human Rights Israel, Save the Children, War Child Alliance, and War on Want.
Their statement follows a similar one released last week by a coalition of 15 leading human rights and legal organizations, which urged all parties involved in GHF, including countries, corporations, donors and individuals, "to immediately suspend any action or support that facilitates the forcible displacement of civilians, contributes to starvation or other grave breaches of international law, or undermines the core principles of international humanitarian law."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Anti-Poverty Campaigners Cheer Spain-Brazil-South Africa Plan to Tax the Grotesquely Rich
"People are fed up with billionaires' greed eroding the environment and communities we depend on," said one supporter of the new initiative. "It's time for world leaders to listen and act."
Jul 01, 2025
A new plan backed by the governments of Spain, Brazil, and South Africa to tax the fortunes of the uber-rich drew hearty cheers from anti-poverty campaigners, environmental activists, and unions when it was announced on Tuesday.
As described in an announcement by the Spanish government, the initiative aims to create coordination between governments on the taxation of high-net-worth individuals to ensure they are not shuffling money abroad to avoid proper taxation.
"The proposal aims to incentivize and guide different countries to join the initiative and address policy, administrative, and data deficiencies, ensuring that high-net-worth individuals are taxed more efficiently in line with their wealth," the Spanish government explained. "To achieve this, it is necessary to foster international cooperation in multilateral forums to promote and facilitate the implementation of evidence-based reforms and ongoing experiences regarding the taxation of large fortunes in different countries."
The plan—crafted by the governments of Spain and Brazil and presented at the United Nations' Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development being held in the Spanish city of Seville—was quickly praised by an assortment of international nonprofit organizations as an essential tool for tackling global wealth inequality.
Kate Blagojevic, associate director for Europe campaigns for environmental the advocacy group 350.org, described it as "a bold move by Spain and Brazil" that she said could provide funding for clean energy investments around the world, including in countries that lack the resources to make such investments.
"We want more countries to join this coalition so that billionaires and multi-millionaires help to foot the bill for the climate damage they have caused and decrease the huge gap between the rich and the poorest," she said, while also calling for the United Kingdom, France, and Germany to sign on.
Susana Ruiz, the tax justice policy lead at the anti-poverty organization Oxfam, emphasized that international coordination on taxation of high-worth individuals was a serious proposal to address a crisis in global democracy, which she said was being undermined by the corrupting influence of vast sums of money being held by a tiny number of people.
"This extreme inequality is being driven by a financial system that puts the interests of a wealthy few above everyone else," she said. "This concentration of wealth is blocking progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals and keeping over three billion people living in poverty: over half of poor countries are spending more on debt repayments than on healthcare or education."
Fred Njehu, the global political lead for Greenpeace’s Fair Share campaign, deemed the tax plan essential at a time when nations are behind their renewable energy goals and when wealthy elites such as Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos can go all-out for a lavish three-day wedding in Venice.
"Financing is urgently needed for climate action and public services, not for polluting space travel and luxury weddings," he said. "This new coalition of governments working to tax the super-rich adds to the growing global momentum to make the world’s wealthiest pay their fair share. People are fed up with billionaires' greed eroding the environment and communities we depend on. It's time for world leaders to listen and act."
And Leo Hyde, the campaigns and media coordinator at the Public Services International union, praised the plan and said that was the result of years' worth of advocacy by unions and other organizations.
"The initiative aims to ensure a progressive and efficient global tax system with the aim of reducing social inequality," he said. "This builds directly on years of union-led tax justice campaigning that has already yielded significant victories, including the OECD global minimum corporate tax, Australia's public country-by-country reporting initiatives, and the ongoing UN tax treaty negotiations."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular