Over 4 million people have died from Covid-19 around the world. Three countries (the US, Brazil, and India) account for more than a third of those deaths. While fatalities have started to drop in the US and Europe, developing countries like India and Indonesia continue to face widespread outbreaks. Just last week, the World Health Organization’s Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the pandemic remains in a "very dangerous phase."

It doesn’t have to be this way.

We have the vaccines, the technology, and the know-how to vaccinate the world. What we lack is the political will. Although the US and other wealthy nations have offered to send millions of vaccines abroad, billions are needed to vaccinate the world’s population to avoid additional waves of the virus and more deadly variants like the Delta variant which has now spread widely.

To bolster global vaccination, it is critical that world leaders support a temporary waiver on the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights or “TRIPS” agreement. This agreement requires WTO countries to extend monopoly protections on Covid-19 vaccines, tests, and technology. This one provision blocks other countries and manufacturers from developing Covid-19 vaccines so desperately needed worldwide.

The Biden administration announced its support for a temporary waiver in May, yet EU countries, and in particular Germany, have blocked negotiations. With German Chancellor Angelica Merkel set to meet with President Biden on July 15th (and WTO negotiations extending through July) now is the time now is the time for the US to pressure EU nations to support the temporary waiver and put lives over the profits of pharmaceutical corporations.

Call on the Biden Administration to keep up the push for a temporary “TRIPS Waiver” and use its leverage on EU partner countries before the next round of negotiations this month.