![A woman walks past a notice announcing unavailability of Covid-19 vaccine doses.](https://www.commondreams.org/media-library/a-woman-walks-past-a-notice-announcing-unavailability-of-covid-19-vaccine-doses.jpg?id=32139955&width=1200&height=400&quality=90&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C249)
A woman walks past the entrance of a closed vaccination center that was shut due to a shortage of Covid-19 vaccine doses in Mumbai on July 9, 2021. (Photo: Punit Paranjpe/AFP via Getty Images)
'Humanity Must Stand Together': Top Medical Ethicists Demand Vaccine Patent Waivers
"We will look back in anger and I think we will look back in shame" if wealthy countries do not ensure vaccine doses are distributed globally, said one WHO official.
Two medical ethicists are the latest to argue that the World Trade Organization must lift patent protections on Covid-19 vaccines to save lives both in the Global South, where inoculations against the virus are lagging, and in wealthy countries which is likely to face future infectious disease outbreaks if they continue hoarding the supplies needed to fight the current public health crisis.
"Everyone, but especially wealthier nations, needs to help develop vaccine-manufacturing capacity in low- and middle-income countries because Covid-19 unfortunately won't be the last pandemic the world faces."
--Nancy Jecker, University of Washington
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Two medical ethicists are the latest to argue that the World Trade Organization must lift patent protections on Covid-19 vaccines to save lives both in the Global South, where inoculations against the virus are lagging, and in wealthy countries which is likely to face future infectious disease outbreaks if they continue hoarding the supplies needed to fight the current public health crisis.
"Everyone, but especially wealthier nations, needs to help develop vaccine-manufacturing capacity in low- and middle-income countries because Covid-19 unfortunately won't be the last pandemic the world faces."
--Nancy Jecker, University of Washington
Two medical ethicists are the latest to argue that the World Trade Organization must lift patent protections on Covid-19 vaccines to save lives both in the Global South, where inoculations against the virus are lagging, and in wealthy countries which is likely to face future infectious disease outbreaks if they continue hoarding the supplies needed to fight the current public health crisis.
"Everyone, but especially wealthier nations, needs to help develop vaccine-manufacturing capacity in low- and middle-income countries because Covid-19 unfortunately won't be the last pandemic the world faces."
--Nancy Jecker, University of Washington