New Zealand's refusal so far to stand in solidarity with the majority of the world’s population and support a WTO waiver for a People’s Vaccine represents a serious lapse in judgment, writes Edward Miller
New Covid-19 cases in India have hovered around 400,000 a day for the past week, while on Sunday the country reported 3,689 fatalities - its highest single-day death toll since the pandemic began.
Cases have risen steadily since the detection of a “double mutant” variant, spreading wildly across the impoverished nation, where social distancing is a luxury not enjoyed by the majority.
And, while India is now reporting 20 million cases, experts fear that massive under-reporting could be concealing more than half a billion cases. Hospitals and crematoriums are dangerously overloaded, with widespread shortages of oxygen and medicines.
A week ago on Morning Report I heard that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade “stands ready to respond to any requests for support from India”, and a few days later it was announced we were contributing $1 million to the Red Cross to help.
India demands a People’s Vaccine
However, well before this second wave began, India spoke clearly to the world about what they wanted other countries to do. In October 2020, India and South Africa submitted a proposal at the WTO calling for a waiver of WTO intellectual property rules for the prevention, containment and treatment of Covid-19.
In short, they are demanding a “people’s vaccine”, so other vaccine manufacturers can scale up the production of Covid vaccines and other associated technologies, without being subject to billion-dollar lawsuits. There are now more than 100 countries that support this approach, as well as countless medical experts and public figures.
Without this kind of action, experts estimate that eight out of 10 people in low-income developing countries won’t receive a vaccination this year, with some having to wait until 2024. Can you imagine another three years of Covid, with the associated lockdowns, bouts of collective anxiety, and widespread bereavement?
In January 2021, a coalition of 42 respected groups and experts – including the Council of Trade Unions, Amnesty NZ, Oxfam NZ, MSF NZ and the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists – wrote to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern demanding New Zealand support the WTO waiver proposal.
A week later, a group of 36 Indian health organisations and 50 respected individual wrote to the New Zealand Ambassador to India, calling on New Zealand to support the WTO waiver. Their letter was prescient:
It is now clear that the longer the virus circulates in unprotected populations, the more likely it is that mutations will occur. These mutations can affect all countries – including countries opposing the waiver proposal – and prolong the pandemic. In the face of such a crisis, New Zealand’s silence is untenable and self-defeating.
New Zealand’s misstep
New Zealand’s response to these letters was an unfortunate step in the wrong direction.
After a period considering its position, in March this year, New Zealand – along with Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Norway and Turkey – put forward a communication calling on the Director-General to convene discussion with vaccine developers and manufacturers to identify unused capacity, facilitate licensing and identify trade-related impediments to increasing capacity.
In short, New Zealand’s plan was to very nicely ask the pharmaceutical industry to do the right thing, while allowing them to continue to decide who can produce Covid vaccines, to set the prices and to extort a licensing fee.
Never mind that at the same time the industry was already asking the US Government to formally label the countries that had sought to produce patented Covid vaccine and treatments as intellectual property thefts.
Owning the intellectual property rights to critical medicines is immensely profitable. Over the past 12 months, vaccine manufacturers Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca have paid US$26 billion to shareholders in share buybacks and dividends. The thought that the New Zealand Government alone can talk them into changing their minds is unrealistic.
The recent announcement that New Zealand will donate 800,000 vaccines to COVAX is a great humanitarian step, however the refusal so far to stand in solidarity with the majority of the world’s population and support a WTO waiver for a People’s Vaccine represents a serious lapse in judgment.
It’s important not to forget the Washington Post op-ed that Ardern co-authored with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in July 2020 calling for an equitable vaccine rollout, in which they wrote that “where you live shouldn’t determine whether you live”.
New Zealand’s rigid support for the WTO’s free market intellectual property rules undermines this commitment. Yes, we need to contribute towards addressing the immediate health crises that India is dealing with. But until we support the demands of the majority of the planet for a People’s Vaccine, we will remain squarely on the wrong side of history.
