Across the world, over one quarter of a billion people have now contracted COVID-19, and over 5 million of them have died. Here in the US, nearly 5 million of us have contacted the disease, and almost three-quarters of a million of us have died.
Join us and our partners in the #EndVaccineApartheid campaign in Times Square (the “Crossroads of the World”) on Tuesday evening, November 30th at 5:15 p.m., along the southern edge of the Duffy Sq. area (46th St.) We’ll be gathering as the World Trade Organization (WTO) opens its 12th annual Ministerial meeting in Geneva, and joining in solidarity with thousands of everyday people holding events in cities worldwide. Collectively, we will call-out shameful global vaccine apartheid that has been caused by WTO rules, and call for a new system of global vaccine justice instead.
Activities across the US will also call for US leadership to make this shift happen. We will remember the millions worldwide who have unnecessarily died from COVID-19 because of the WTO’s rigged system that protects the power and profits of international drug corporations over the health and lives of people. The WTO’s skewed system also allows new viral variants to emerge that threaten all of us no matter where we live and regardless of our vaccination status.
How to join us on Tuesday evening, November 30th:
- Please RSVP here: https://actionnetwork.org/events/global-day-of-action-for-vaccine-justice-nyc-solidarity-vigil?clear_id=true
- Please share this Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/995202804391521
- Feel free to use this toolkit: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19db12x01m2TMlQCEE1WgFlvMC3X2KFTv6G74Ef8CB-4/edit#
- Co-sponsor sign-on form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1LpKLY4KOKZJ5ajXrEtgk-Z9D567fUCjBoOadk_rhcb8/edit
Sponsors [list in formation]:
- Citizens Trade Campaign/New York Trade Justice Campaign
- CPD Action
- Health GAP
- Housing Works
- Metro New York Health Care for All
- Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch
- Right to Health Action
- Rise and Resist
The WTO’s Ministerial will be one if its most important meetings in years given the crisis of the global COVID-19 pandemic. One of the top agenda items is a proposal from India and South Africa (and endorsed by over 130 nations) for the WTO to temporarily suspend its corporate-friendly system of international intellectual property rights so that millions more deaths can be prevented through mass vaccination and treatment programs worldwide. The Biden administration publicly stated its support for this waiver last spring, but has yet to do anything concrete to move it forward at the WTO. Many rich western countries in Europe oppose the waiver at the behest of industry forces, so active US leadership is essential.
More info on the Global Day of Action worldwide:
Good background on the WTO Ministerial:
- https://www.twn.my/title2/briefing_papers/MC12/briefings/WTO reform & WTO pandemic response TWNBP MC12.pdf
Since last spring, we are proud to have joined with various public health groups here in NYC and nationally to do our part as part of the larger #EndVaccineApartheid campaign. Once a month or so, we have undertaken a variety of events here in NYC in solidarity with others across the US and the globe. Our main focus has been to promote and advance a proposal from India, South Africa, and 120+ other countries for the WTO to grant a temporary waiver of international intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines, treatments, and diagnostics so that they can be quickly mass produced and used to end the pandemic as soon as possible, and to prevent millions of unnecessary deaths and the emergence of new viral variants that threaten everyone everywhere.
We also have been calling out the Big Pharma bad actors and profiteers such as our hometown bad boy Pfizer, and calling on the US to provide necessary leadership to make this waiver proposal come to fruition. While the Biden administration made a public statement of support last spring, they have done NOTHING yet to actually make it happen, and so industry forces and their political shills in Europe have been able to block any progress.