Tournament: Jack Howe Memorial Tournament | Round: 2 | Opponent: Marlborough TZ | Judge: Jan Wimmer
Fink 7-30-21
(Jenni, https://www.newsweek.com/who-warns-world-blind-understanding-covid-spread-hurting-ability-end-pandemic-1614722)
A lack of testing for COVID-19 in parts of the world is preventing
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We can test for it and we can treat it," Ghebreyesus said.
Kumar, PhD, 7-12-21
(Rajeesh, Associate Fellow Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis, https://www.idsa.in/issuebrief/wto-trips-waiver-covid-vaccine-rkumar-120721)
In October 2020, India and South Africa had submitted a proposal to the World
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not expedient in a public health crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Guy R. McPherson, PhD, 20 ~PhD Range Science, Professor Emeritus, University of Arizona School of Natural Resources and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology~, "Will COVID-19 Trigger Extinction of All Life on Earth?" Eart and Envi Scie Res and Rev, Volume 3 Issue 2, 4-8-2020, https://opastonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/will-covid-19-trigger-extinction-of-all-life-on-earth-eesrr-20-.pdf
Small lives matter. Indeed, the "human body contains about 100 trillion cells
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that a microscopic virus could pull the trigger on our extinction ~15~.
Communication from India and South Africa to the WTO 20
(WAIVER FROM CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF THE TRIPS AGREEMENT FOR THE PREVENTION,
CONTAINMENT AND TREATMENT OF COVID-19 https://docs.wto.org/dol2fe/Pages/SS/directdoc.aspx?filename=q:/IP/C/W669.pdfandOpen=True, 10-2)
5. An effective response to COVID-19 pandemic requires rapid access to affordable medical products
including diagnostic kits, medical masks, other personal protective equipment and ventilators, as
well as vaccines and medicines for the prevention and treatment of patients in dire need.
6. The outbreak has led to a swift increase in global demand with many countries facing acute
shortages, constraining the ability to effectively respond to the outbreak. Shortages of these
products has put the lives of health and other essential workers at risk and led to many avoidable
deaths. It is also threatening to prolong the COVID-19 pandemic. The longer the current global crisis
persist, the greater the socio-economic fallout, making it imperative and urgent to collaborate
internationally to rapidly contain the outbreak.
7. As new diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines for COVID-19 are developed, there are significant
concerns, how these will be made available promptly, in sufficient quantities and at affordable price
to meet global demand. Critical shortages in medical products have also put at grave risk patients
suffering from other communicable and non-communicable diseases.
8. To meet the growing supply-demand gap, several countries have initiated domestic production
of medical products and/or are modifying existing medical products for the treatment of COVID-19
patients. The rapid scaling up of manufacturing globally is an obvious crucial solution to address the
timely availability and affordability of medical products to all countries in need.
9. There are several reports about intellectual property rights hindering or potentially hindering
timely provisioning of affordable medical products to the patients.3
It is also reported that some
WTO Members have carried out urgent legal amendments to their national patent laws to expedite
the process of issuing compulsory/government use licenses.
10. Beyond patents, other intellectual property rights may also pose a barrier, with limited options
to overcome those barriers. In addition, many countries especially developing countries may face
institutional and legal difficulties when using flexibilities available in the Agreement on Trade-Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement). A particular concern for countries with
insufficient or no manufacturing capacity are the requirements of Article 31bis and consequently the
cumbersome and lengthy process for the import and export of pharmaceutical products.
- Internationally, there is an urgent call for global solidarity, and the unhindered global sharing
of technology and know-how in order that rapid responses for the handling of COVID-19 can be put
in place on a real time basis.
12. In these exceptional circumstances, we request that the Council for TRIPS recommends, as
early as possible, to the General Council a waiver from the implementation, application and
enforcement of Sections 1, 4, 5, and 7 of Part II of the TRIPS Agreement in relation to prevention,
containment or treatment of COVID-19.
13. The waiver should continue until widespread vaccination is in place globally, and the majority
of the world's population has developed immunity hence we propose an initial duration of ~x~ years
from the date of the adoption of the waiver.
14. We request that the Council for TRIPS urgently recommends to the General Council adoption of
the annexed decision text.
Erfani et al, 21
(Parsa Erfani, Fogarty global health scholar1 2, Agnes Binagwaho, vice chancellor2, Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, vice president3, Muhammad Yunus, chair4, Paul Farmer, professor57, Vanessa Kerry, associate professor810 Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA 2University of Global Health Equity, Rwanda 3Sierra Leone 4Yunus Centre, Bangladesh 5Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA 6Division of Global Health Equity, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, USA 7Partners In Health, USA 8Seed Global Health, USA 9Program in Global Public Policy and Social Change, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA 10Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, USA Intellectual property waiver for covid-19 vaccines will advance global health equity BMJ 2021; 374 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n1837 (Published 03 August 2021) Cite this as: BMJ 2021;374:n1837 https://www.bmj.com/content/374/bmj.n1837.full)
The barrier to adequate vaccine supply today is not lack of vaccine options, nor even theoretical production capacity
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For too long, this cycle has been "other people’s" problem. It is not. It is our problem.