Letter to Latin American leaders endorsed by 81 organizations and Individuals.
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To Whom It Concerns, Presidents:
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only put enormous pressure on health care, it has also caused a global economic crisis and pushed millions of people into poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Added to the above is the moral impact caused by the large number of lives lost and the adverse long-term effects of this pathology still under study due to the large number of variants that have appeared in the region.
As civil society organizations and national and Latin American activists and the Caribbean, who work on access to COVID-19 technologies, we are writing to you to request the design as well as adjustment of the country’s plans and policies to guarantee access to the vaccines already developed, as well as their efficacy and safety against the variants that have appeared in recent months.
We are not unaware that the pharmaceutical industry has played a fundamental role in the speed of the development of vaccines and other technologies. However, it is important to remember the extensive public funding these companies have received.
This means that it is citizens who are contributing a large part of the funds and indirectly assuming the commercial risks of the advancement of technologies of COVID-19, therefore citizens have the right to demand information and to access
safe and timely use of such technologies.
Throughout the year it has been observed that most pharmaceutical companies have negotiated, sold and distributed their vaccines for COVID-19 in countries in developed countries which constitutes “vaccine apartheid”; meanwhile the developing countries and the poorest as is the case of Latin America and the Caribbean have had to wait for the availability of the product and additionally rely on donations.
This situation is generating a strong negative impact regarding the pandemic in the Latin American Region. This is why we demand that you, as heads of state, confirm your commitment in terms of transparency, affordability, use of licenses, technology transfer and equitable access as well as other measures necessary to control the pandemic
Vaccine production has been insufficient to vaccinate the entire world population, therefore we consider that it is necessary to restructure the acquisition and production models to improve the availability of doses at the most favorable price for our region, which at the same time is going through a serious economic crisis. Therefore, it is imperative that pharmaceutical companies share technology and knowledge with other qualified producers as soon as possible and it is important that the countries of the region take a firm position towards the industry.
The proposal for a temporary waiver of TRIPS obligations in response to COVID-19 and the WHO COVID-19 Technology Access Panel (C-TAP) is an alternative that provides a global mechanism ready to use for this exchange, therefore we demand its support; however, it is clear that all additional measures that can be used to expand production in the region are essential. Faced with a new global landscape, the State must protect the interests of its health systems above those of multinational pharmaceutical companies.
Consequently, we demand:
- Full transparency regarding clinical trials, financial investments, manufacturing costs, retail prices, advance purchase commitments and the resources received from the public and non-profit sectors for the COVID-19 vaccine. The State should ensure that in the purchase contracts for COVID-19 vaccines that are made, there is a guarantee of receiving full doses on time for all citizens who need them, as well as alternatives to the appearance of new variants. That the state promote fairer negotiations with vaccine producers, since it is a product used massively, and of primary need.
- Commitment to use all health safeguards against intellectual property rights and exclusivity rights of all technology, materials, test data, trade secrets, biological material, product designs, since these generate monopolies, high costs and constitute a barrier to access in times of health emergency.
- Full support for the proposed temporary waiver of certain TRIPS obligations as a response to COVID-19, considering that this allows for building local capacity and reducing dependence on developed countries and the WHO COVID-19 Technology Access Panel (C-TAP) an alternative that provides a ready-to-use global mechanism for this exchange.
- The State must insist not only that intellectual property rights are released but also that multinationals share formulations openly, that effective technology transfer takes place, and that public initiatives for the manufacture of vaccines in Latin America are supported with full transparency regarding production costs.
- States should exercise strict control over vaccine prices, avoiding abuses by multinational pharmaceutical companies and the enrichment of pharmaceutical companies at the expense of the COVID 19 epidemic.
- The states must seek support from international agencies of cooperation. Make a call at the United Nations General Assembly for an urgent global program for the manufacture of vaccines, financed in accordance with the countries’ ability to pay. The State should work together with WHO for the creation of a center for vaccine production and technology transfer in Latin America.
- Promote educational campaigns related to the importance of vaccines.
- Promote plans and programs to generate economic recovery in the face of the crisis generated by the pandemic that has driven thousands of people into poverty.
NO ONE IS SAFE UNTIL WE ARE ALL SAFE!
ORGANIZATIONS
- Asociación Cristiana de Jóvenes. El Salvador , El Salvador, C.A
- Acción Internacional para la Salud, Perú
- AID FOR AIDS Colombia /Aliyoner Rodríguez , Colombia
- Asociacion APUVIMEH HONDURAS, Honduras
- Asociación Asiris , Ecuador
- Asociacion CCEFIRO, Peru
- Asociación de Desarrollo Social y Comunitario Rija’tzuul Na’ooj, Guatemala
- Asociación de Mujeres Gente Nueva-AMUGEN-, Guatemala
- Asociacion Goover, Ecuador
- Asociación Médica de Antioquia , Colombia
- Asociación Pacientes Alto Costo , Colombia
- Asociacion Por La Vida (ASOVIDA) Mérida, Venezuela
- Caritas América Latina y el Caribe, Regional
- Centro de Edtudios para la Equidad y Gobernanza de los Sistemas de Salud,
Guatemala - Coalición Dominicana Saludable, República Dominicana
- Corporacion Innovarte, Chile
- Corporación Red Somos, Colombia
- Corresponsales Clave, Argentina
- Derechohabientes Viviendo con VIH del IMSS , México
- FIC Bolivia/Alianza Por La Salud , Bolivia
- Francisco Olivares, Chile
- Fundacion Gente Positiva CR, Costa Rica
- Fundación Grupo Efecto Positivo, Argentina
- Fundación IFARMA
- Fundación Luchando Vencerás / Joan Parot, Chile
- Fundación Matices / Santiago Jaramillo , Ecuador
- FUNDASIDA, El Salvador
- Global Humanitarian Progress Corporation GHP Corp, Colombia
- ILAPYC ( Instituto Latinoamericano Paz y Ciudadania) , Argentina
- International Treatment Preparedness Coalition Latin American and Caribbean ITPC-LATCA, Guatemala
- Juntos por la Vida , Chile
- Liga Merideña contra la Sida, Venezuela
- Mesa Tematica Nacional sobre VIH/SIDA del Foro de la Sociedad Civil en Salud – FOROSALUD (Peru)
- Mesa Temática Nacional sobre VIH/SIDA del Foro de la Sociedad Civil en Salud (Foro Salud) Peru
- Misión Salud de Colombia, Colombia
- Movimiento de Alimentación Saludable , Panamá
- Movimiento Mexicano de Ciudadnía Positiva, A.C. / Georgina Gutiérrez Alvarado, México
- Organización de Mujeres Tierra Viva, Guatemala
- Organización Juntos por la Vida , Chile
- Plaperts, Ecuador
- Red de Acceso a Medicamentos, Guatemala
- Red PVVS-Uruguay , Uruguay
- Red Uruguaya de PVVS/REDLA+, Uruguay
- Salud y Fármacos, Coordinación para América Latina y el Caribe
- Súmate , El Salvador
- Universidades Aliadas por los Medicamientos Esenciales (UAEM) – América
Latina , Brasil, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru - Veeduría al plan de vacunación de Antioquia-VPVA, Colombia.
- Veeduría Equipo anticorrupción, Colombia
LEADERS
- Alma de León, Guatemala
- Alma Odette Chacón, Guatemala
- Angelica María Patiño , Colombia
- Bertha Chete, Guatemala
- César A. Coria Mercado, México
- Claudia Vargas, Colombia
- Clemencia Mayorga R. Colombia
- David Gonzalez, Ecuador
- Francisco Olivares, Chile
- Georgina Gutierrez Alvarado, México
- German Enrique Reyes F , Colombia
- Giovanni Francisco Guevara, El Salvador
- Javier Pablo Anamaria , Lima
- Jorge Antonio Estrada Rodriguez, Perú
- Jorge Eduardo Cruz castillo, Colombia
- Jose Alejandro Niño Vasquez, Colombia
- Jose Hernandez, Guatemala
- Julio Rondinel Cano, Peru
- Karina Bravo, Ecuador
- Laura Inés Pérez ottonello, Uruguay
- Lesbia Gálvez , Guatemala
- Lucrecia Vicente Franco , Guatemala
- Luz M Umbasia, Colombia.
- Mabel Martínez Arriaga , Honduras
- María José Fraga, Uruguay
- Marisabel Colorado, El Salvador
- Marleny Negreros , Guatemala
- Patricia Pérez , Argentina
- Richard Stern , Costa Rica
- Rosa Mercedes Vásquez Rojas, Perú
- Roxana Bretoneche Rivas, Perú
- Ursula Roldán Andrade, Guatemala
- Walter José Trejo Urquiola, Venezuela