UNISON endorses Labour ’s call for an international vaccine plan

UNISON has endorsed Labour’s call for the UK government to back the international vaccine waiver in a bid to tackle COVID-19 around the world. Pressure is growing on Boris Johnson’s government to follow the US government backing for a patent waiver for coronavirus vaccines at the World Trade Organisation. But writing in The Guardian, shadow secretary of state for international trade Emily Thornberry argues that a patent waiver should only be the start of coordinated international action to tackle the pandemic, and the UK government has shown a critical lack of international leadership at a crucial time. “Thousands are still dying every day around the world simply because we are not producing the volume of vaccines we need, at the pace we need them, to save those lives,” she writes. “And the longer COVID-19 runs rampant among unvaccinated populations, the more likely that aggressive new variants will emerge that threaten the success of existing vaccine programmes. “That cycle needs urgently to be broken through coordinated action at a global level, but where is the leadership coming from to make that happen? Again, not from Johnson’s government. “On one of the central issues, the proposed waiver of vaccine patents, British ministers have not just sat on the fence in the debate, but have kept entirely silent. What they should be saying, as Labour has, is that those talks must move quickly towards concrete proposals, but with the understanding that – on ...
Source: UNISON Health care news - Category: UK Health Authors: Tags: Article News Covid vaccine Covid-19 international Source Type: news