SINN Féin Senator, Paul Gavan has welcomed the passing of a motion in the Seanad calling on the Government to support a Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waiver for Covid-19 vaccines.
The Limerick-based Senator said: “I was pleased to be able to lead the debate on behalf of the Sinn Féin Seanad Team calling on the Irish Government and the European Union (EU) to support the calls for a TRIPS waiver.
“This waiver would allow counties in the Global South to start developing their own vaccines that would seriously ramp up their fight against Covid-19. As we have yet again seen with the emergence of the Omicron variant, we are truly not safe until we are all safe.”
He added: “The strength of argument in favour of a TRIPS waiver was such that the government counter motion was defeated due to government Senators siding with our motion.”
“Now we need to see action from this government in leading the call for EU action to allow developing countries to produce their own generic versions of these life saving vaccines. If we truly believe that nobody is safe until everyone is safe then we need our country to be a voice for vaccine justice in the world.”
