Canada must act with integrity to help poorer countries

By Letter to the Editor on April 23, 2021.

Editor: Even in the midst of the third wave of COVID in most parts of the country, we must ensure the poorest countries of the world get access to the vaccines as fast as we do.
We will not be able to open up the world again until all people everywhere are protected.
One barrier to global economic recovery and vaccine equity is the World Trade Organization’s TRIPS facility. TRIPS laudably protects intellectual property in normal times; however, it fails in times of global emergency.
Canada must support efforts to temporarily waive the rights of large pharmaceutical companies – who have been supported by hundreds of millions of public dollars – to prevent manufacture of vaccines to supply poorer countries.
This can’t wait until we all get our jabs. Canada must act with integrity now.
Randy Rudolph
Calgary