The ICC-Hellas wrote recently a letter to the Greek PM and the member of the European Parliament, stating our position on the Covid-related IP-rights. As this letter is in Greek I copy here only the last part, the Proposal for Solution, in English:
PROPOSAL FOR SOLUTION As people are dying every day, the matter is extremely urgent. It is also extremely complicated to fabricate vaccines, as it necessitates knowhow, raw materials which are hard to find and patents. In this complex landscape patents is the least critical component. The only solution we see is mentioned in the 2nd paragraph of the Biden declaration and comprises the following elements: a. the COOPERATION amongst all players: governments, pharmaceuticals, raw material providers, the commitment to working together towards a common goal through exploiting the provisions of the TRIPS agreement, b. the clear DEFINITION OF ROLES and FAIR PRICE of vaccines, which guarantee that taxpayers’ money is treated with transparency and accountability and do not end-up in increasing pharmaceutical companies’ earnings, c. the SUBSIDISING of the vaccines to poor countries. The proposal for a new treaty as suggested by WHO should further be exploited.
