Africa: Group Files Petition to WTO for Universal Access to Covid Vaccine allafrica.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from allafrica.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The East African
Monday December 14 2020
If pharmaceutical companies hold on to their intellectual property, the Covid-19 vaccine may become unaffordable for most people. PHOTO | FILE
Summary
Petition has asked all governments, WTO members and pharmaceutical companies to ensure access to lifesaving Covid-19 vaccines, treatments and equipment for everyone.
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The World Trade Organisation has received a petition calling for universal access to affordable Covid-19 vaccines.
The petition was delivered virtually by Avaaz, a global online citizen movement, on December 9. It has more than 900,000 signatures from individuals around the world.
The petition has asked all governments, WTO members and pharmaceutical companies to ensure access to lifesaving Covid-19 vaccines, treatments and equipment for everyone.
WTO takes in 900,000-strong petition on COVID patents mb.com.ph - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mb.com.ph Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Published December 11, 2020, 12:17 AM
THE HAGUE/WASHINGTON – Documents related to the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine were illegally accessed during a cyberattack at the EU regulator, the company said Wednesday, as the United States registered more than 3,000 deaths in 24 hours and Germany and other northern hemisphere countries grappled with a winter surge in the pandemic.
(JANSEN ROMERO / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
The Amsterdam-based European Medicines Agency (EMA) reported the cyberattack as European countries eagerly await a vaccine, including Germany where Chancellor Angela Merkel is pushing for tougher action against a second wave of COVID-19 that is proving deadlier than the first there.
While the EMA did not give details on the attack, Pfizer and BioNTech said documents relating to their vaccine candidate had been accessed, but that ”no systems have been breached in connection with this incident.”