UAEM RESPONDS TO COVID-19
Our Free The Vaccine for Covid-19 campaign has mobilized people across 30 countries to urge governments, pharmaceutical corporations and university administrations to adopt and implement global access provisions that will increase access to COVID-19 tests, treatments and vaccines in order to reduce vaccine apartheid and stop COVID-19. Launched in March 2020 in conjunction with our partner the Center for Artistic Activism (C4AA), the campaign focuses on two key goals:
To pressure universities, governments and/or pharmaceutical corporations to ensure that all publicly funded diagnostics, treatments, and safe and effective vaccine(s) for Covid-19 are sustainably priced, available to everyone and free at the point of delivery.
To grow the movement and train people with new skills to fight for equitable access to medicines.
On June 8th, members from UAEM Germany joined fellow NGOs as part of the “makethemsign” coalition at the Kanzleramt, to protest Germany's blockade of the TRIPS waiver.
Why? The German government refuses to acknowledge that the patent monopolies on these vaccinations, which have received significant public funding, are the main reason for the bottlenecks in production & distribution along with their high prices. These place a significant access barrier for lower- and middle-income countries to get the doses they so desperately need.
The WHO, alongside many countries, including the U.S.A, have demonstrated their support for the TRIPS waiver, thereby recognising that temporarily stopping the global protection of intellectual property rights is our only way out of this pandemic.
This demonstration was the first step in our ‘makethemsign’ campaign, with other demonstrations, newspaper adverts and a social media campaign following. We will continue to put pressure on the German government to change their position on the TRIPS-Waiver. Keep updated on our progress through the MakeThemSign Twitter, Instagram and Website.
-Malte Radde, Berlin Chapter
Free the Vaccine for COVID-19 has mobilized over 700 participants and has generated more than 120 creative actions including those at the rally on May 5th where we were able to announce live that our movement had convinced the Biden administration to support the TRIPS Waiver.
Free the Vaccine at the DC Rally on May 5, 2021 where we were able to announce live that our movement had convinced the Biden administration to support the TRIPS Waiver. Watch full livestream video here.
LATEST PROJECT FROM OUR FREE THE VACCINE CAMPAIGN
"I'M JUST A VACCINE"
Schoolhouse Rock taught kids about civics during Saturday morning cartoons. Free The Vaccine parodies “I’m Just a Bill” to bring attention to vaccine inequity with “I’m Just a Vaccine.”
Listen to the Vaccine! Monopolies, restrictive patents, and global inaccessibility are not the way to go.
Concept inspired by “I’m Just a Bill” by School House Rock (1976)
SUPPORT THE OPEN COVID PLEDGE
Immediate action is required to halt the COVID-19 Pandemic and treat those it has affected. It is a practical and moral imperative that every tool we have at our disposal be applied to develop and deploy technologies on a massive scale without impediment.
We therefore pledge to make our intellectual property available free of charge for use in ending the COVID-19 pandemic and minimizing the impact of the disease.
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I’M AN INDIVIDUAL AND I WANT TO SHOW SUPPORT FOR MY INSTITUTION TO SIGN THE OPEN COVID PLEDGE:
Your submission will help us show that there’s support for change at your university to show leadership – whether you are faculty, alumni, student, staff, or a member of the surrounding community.