Mexico Insists on Democratizing Vaccine Production Through CELAC

Mexico, May 6 (Prensa Latina) Mexico, as the pro tempore president of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), insisted on the democratization of the distribution of vaccines against Covid-19, La Jornada reported on Thursday.

The newspaper pointed out that the CELAC coordinating country recognized the position of the Government of the United States to release patents, in accordance with the international community’s call on pharmaceutical companies to democratize the production and access to such vaccines, and to consider them as global public assets.

Mexico’s statement comes in response to Washington’s announcement on Wednesday to support the temporary suspension of patents for Covid-19 vaccines in order to accelerate their production and distribution around the world.

In a statement, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said that the administration headed by Joe Biden believes strongly in the protection of intellectual property, but in the face of a global health crisis, the extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic demand extraordinary measures.

The proposal to guarantee universal access to the formulas and materials to produce these antigens is backed by more than 100 countries, and is also the subject of a global movement, which on April 23 sent Biden a petition containing two million signatures to support the motion within the World Trade Organization (WTO).

However, according to La Jornada, the US proposal will have to overcome the refusal of nations such as France, which is committed to alleviating the acute inequality in access to vaccines through donations to poor countries, which is rejected by the interested parties.

The newspaper admitted that the current circumstances demand extraordinary measures, and the release of patents must be considered a humanitarian duty in the face of challenges due to the uncontrolled upturn in the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus in India or the emergence of new strains that threaten even those who have been vaccinated.

Featured image: File Photo

(Prensa Latina)