Negotiations at the WTO to suspend patent rules are hitting a stalemate. While 100 countries support the proposal, which will help ramp up vaccine supplies for all countries, rich countries are blocking it.
This is not good enough when rich countries have already hoarded supplies in advance, leaving countries in the global south waiting up to 2023 for widespread vaccination.
We are in this situation because there are not enough doses. Vaccines cannot be produced by as many manufacturers as possible because patents and the guarding of technological know-how prevent other manufacturers from making them.
Take action to mobilise MPs to put pressure on the government to support the proposal to suspend patent rules during the pandemic.