TAC welcomes the Biden-Harris administration’s decision to support the TRIPS waiver proposal

6 May 2021, Johannesburg – “The Treatment Action Campaign welcomes the Biden-Harris administration’s decision to support the TRIPS waiver. This a proposal that could dramatically improve access to COVID-19 vaccines, medicines as well as PPE and other products needed for the response. While we welcome the announcement, it is just the first step to ensuring the rapid adoption and implementation of the waiver.”

“As people living with HIV, we are hopeful that it will ensure that communities around the world will get access to much-needed COVID-19 vaccines and treatments more quickly. We lost thousands of comrades, family and friends because they couldn’t access the HIV medicines they needed due to high prices driven by unwarranted patent monopolies. Let us not make the same mistake again.”

“We acknowledge the leadership role played by the South African government in leading this process in the international arena, yet at home its delays are putting our people’s lives at risk. While COVID-19 highlights the urgency of the need to Fix the Patent Laws, it is only one disease amongst many. People with many other diseases and conditions, including cancer, TB, and diabetes, are all affected by similar challenges in accessing affordable medicines and medical tools as a result of patent barriers,” said Sibongile Tshabalala, from the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC).

For more information, please contact:

Sibongile Tshabalala (TAC National Chairperson) – sibongilet@tac.org.za or 066 161 9540