Nobody is safe until everyone is safe BY PAUL GAVAN “Emergency Over” was the headline on the Irish Times the day after the Irish Government announced an end to most of the pandemic restrictions on 21 January. It was an announcement that was welcomed almost universally and certainly did constitute “a good day” for Ireland. It would be easy to forget in the heady excitement of this good news that for much of the world the emergency, far from being over, continues to intensify. Covid-19 constitutes a global problem; it needs global solutions. “Nobody is safe until everybody is safe” is the wellworn phrase to sum up why the whole world needs access to Covid-19 vaccines. It’s also a simple statement of common sense. Unless we vaccinate the world, the dangers of new variants will remain, posing a threat to every human being on our planet. So, why is it that two years into the Covid-19 crisis, we still have vast swathes of our world where vaccination rates are running at just 8% or lower? Because western powers, including the EU, have blocked attempts to allow developing countries to produce their own generic versions of the lifesaving vaccines. In doing so, they have proposed a series of spurious and false arguments employing the most cynical of tactics, while the number of those dying from Covid-19 spirals. The Economist magazine, hardly a bastion of left-wing thought, has estimated that the true level of global deaths from Covid-19 is 17 million people, bearing in mind that six out of
The true level of global deaths from Covid-19 is 17 million people, bearing in mind that six out of every seven Covid-19 deaths are unlikely to be reported in the developing world
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every seven Covid-19 deaths are unlikely to be reported in the developing world. There has been an ongoing debate now for the past year over the call made by 100 countries, as well as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and many human rights and development NGOs, for a temporary waiver on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), a step that would allow the developing world the right in practice to vaccinate all its people. In December, this debate came to the Seanad where I, along with Sinn Féin colleagues, was proud to sign a motion calling on the Irish Government to make a clear and public call for the EU Commission to end its policy of opposing a TRIPS waiver. The Government intended to oppose the motion, and even tabled an amendment to that effect, but faced with the overwhelming force of argument based on scientific facts and evidence, government opposition melted away in front of us. The motion calling for support for a TRIPS waiver was adopted without a single vote of opposition, despite the Government having a two thirds Seanad majority. We hoped this vote might lead to the Irish Government finally finding the courage to speak out in support for vaccine justice for the world. Unfortunately, this has not been the case. Instead, in a • World Health Organisation has called for a temporary waiver on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights ISSUE NUMBER 1 – 2022 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 anphoblacht
