IPR waiver
While the second act of the great COVID-19 tragedy is unfolding in India, Brazil and South Africa, the rich countries that have acquired the world’s supply of vaccines are only interested in talking and watching. The illogical opposition to technology transfer by some of the countries such as Germany is breathtakingly
short sighted, because “nobody is safe until everybody is safely vaccinated”.
What the European Union leaders are genuflecting to is the extraordinary lobbying power of the big pharmaceutical companies, where profit making trumps even a global catastrophe.
The tortured explanations given by various political leaders about the stifling of innovation are not only dishonest but are also self-defeating in the long run. While the slow moving consensus building WTO discussions are under way, the COVID-19 virus is fast mutating into several variants.
It is rather shameful to witness the supremely adamant Angela Merkel of Germany, the equivocating Emmanuel Macron of France and Prime Ministers Trudeau and Johnson of Canada and Great Britain, respectively, holding the Global South and its population to ransom during this global pandemic.
G. Parameswaran,
Coimbatore
The pandemic fight
The two things that increase correspondingly with the increase of COVID-19 cases are drug prices and hospital bills. It is distressing that patients are made to run around to get essential drugs for treatment. Another fact is that key drugs are not available in the rural areas. Where do the middle class and others go when black-marketeers overrun the situation and take control?
D. Sethuraman,
Chennai
The authorities in Tehri Garhwal, Uttarakhand need to step up screening for COVID-19 as many residents in the region are ill, with symptoms of fever, cold and cough. As many of these overlap those for COVID-19, this has added to widespread fears here. Any possibility of a novel coronavirus wave in this region needs to be ruled out.
Pranav Chandra,
Tehri Garhwal, Uttarakhand
