29 January 2021
- Jonathan Bartley: “We need to be struggling together against Covid, not battling each other for vaccine supplies”
The Green Party has called on the UK government to follow the EU [1] and make public its contract with AstraZeneca in order to stop the worrying battle over coronavirus vaccines.
Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley has called for solidarity across Europe in the allocation of vaccine supplies to ensure that the most vulnerable European citizens are protected.
Bartley said:
“The principle that we allocate medicines and health care based on need not based on power or ability to pay is the central principle of the NHS that we all value so highly.
“We need to be struggling together against Covid, not battling each other for vaccine supplies. A trade war over vaccines can only lead to some of the most vulnerable in our communities suffering.
“It’s clear that we need strong political action to prevent profiteering at the expense of public health. In such a vital area as Covid vaccination that means we need contracts to be made public, including the UK’s contract with AstraZeneca, to prevent pharmaceutical companies engaging governments in a bidding war for such a precious resource.
“We would also argue for all Covid vaccines to be sold on the basis of open patents so that manufactures can be rolled out at speed across the world, especially when the science behind the vaccine development was funded at public expense.
“While our appeal for vaccine sharing is based on a moral principle it is also rooted in enlightened self-interest. The European market has been our primarily pharmaceutical market for 40 years now and this means that we depend on European supplies of crucial drugs that we import from the EU.”
ENDS
Notes
1
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_302
2
The government requested drug suppliers to build up six-week stockpiles ahead of Brexit on 31 December, which may mean supplies need replenishing around the middle of February
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