Liberian nurse launches protest at Davos, seeks support for IP waiver on Covid-19 products
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Loading... - Offusu Gyamfi
- 15 Aug 2022
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A lone frontline nurse from Liberia has travelled to the World Economic Forum in Davos, to urge Governments to support a patent waiver on Covid-19 vaccines and medical products, a proposal initially made by India and South Africa.
George Poe Williams has launched an unusual protest in the form of a “round of applause” for pharma executives, a satirical reversal of the global applause for frontline workers. Big pharma is not in support of a patent waiver and has instead pushed for cross-country collaborations.
“Action (the patent waiver) should have been taken a long time ago,” Williams told BusinessLine, speaking from Davos, referring to the initial proposal made in October 2020. “It is making our work difficult. Health workers are over-worked and there is a shortage of supplies. Health workers have died and this should never have been the case,” said Williams, who is the Secretary-General of the National Health Workers’ Union of Liberia. He launched his “round of applause” protest in front of the tightly secured perimeter of the Forum. Read More...
