We can end the pandemic, but it requires taking action now to break Big Pharma’s monopoly control of COVID-19 vaccines, diagnostic tests, and treatments. Absent a massive increase in the global production of these tools, we will face an endless cycle of new variants. Future mutations could be more lethal. And as we see with Omicron, extremely infectious variants of any lethality slam our hospitals and healthcare system and can leave millions suffering the disabling effects of long COVID-19.

This briefing provides:

• The latest on the dire, ongoing shortfall in global COVID-19 vaccines, tests and treatment supplies;
• The status of negotiations for a temporary waiver of WTO “TRIPS” intellectual property monopolies now limiting production of necessary COVID-19 medications; and
• Summaries of key papers by medical school professors and leading public health scholars. One reveals how 22 billion doses of mRNA vaccine could end the pandemic and one way to produce them this year. Another describes the 100 facilities globally that could make mRNA vaccines if they had access to the recipes.

Introductory Remarks

Rosa DeLauro, House Appropriations Chair, D-Conn

Jan Schakowsky, House Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chair, D-Ill

Panel Discussion

Rita Kreynin, MSF/Doctors Without Borders USA, Policy Officer

Achal Prabhala, AccessIBSA, Coordinator

Garrett Wilkinson, Partners In Health, Policy Officer

Moderated by Lori Wallach, Director of Economic Liberties’ Rethink Trade