With one simple decision, the Canadian government can save lives
Al Jazeera
Canada can help Bolivia, and the world, defeat COVID-19 by temporarily lifting patent protections for vaccines.
With one simple decision, the Canadian government can save lives. This is the message I want to bring to Canada’s newly re-elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
On May 11 of this year, the Plurinational State of Bolivia signed an agreement with the Canadian manufacturer “Biolyse Pharma” to produce 15 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines using the Jensen vaccine formula of the North American company Johnson and Johnson. The implementation of this agreement depends on the Canadian government carrying out the necessary procedures so that the vaccines can be produced under the compulsory licensing mechanism established by the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The compulsory licensing procedure is now the only way for these vaccines to be produced, since repeated attempts to obtain a voluntary license from the pharmaceutical company holding the patent have been unsuccessful.
