Coronavirus

G24 asks: no more patents for Covid-19 vaccines

patents vaccine
Photo: Telnov Oleksii/Shutterstock

The G24, an intergovernmental group representing the interests of developing nations around the world — including Brazil — made a plea to rich countries to increase the availability of Covid-19 vaccines, increase funding for the UN-backed COVAX Facility, and put an end to coronavirus vaccine patents. 

“We call on advanced countries to boost financing for the Covax Facility to help more low- and middle-income countries obtain fair and rapid access to affordable vaccines and move toward patent liberalization for Covid-19 vaccines to boost global production,” wrote the group, in a statement.  

The countries also warned that international support has fallen short of the USD 2.5 trillion developing countries need to face the pandemic, urging multilateral organizations to improve the availability of resources. Moreover, they highlight that aid packages in developed countries were key to cushion the global impacts of the pandemic, and encourage these nations “not to withdraw support prematurely.”