That the Parliament notes the calls by a coalition of Scottish charities to support the ending of what it considers to be pharmaceutical monopolies; understands that these monopolies are reportedly artificially limiting vaccine supply to low-income countries; considers that vaccine inequality has resulted from a handful of pharmaceutical companies rationing supply, by refusing to share their vaccine recipes and know-how with the rest of the world, and notes the calls on the Prime Minister to back plans to waive intellectual property rules and to insist that vaccine know-how and technology is shared via the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Technology Access Pool, in order to enable a life-saving escalation in global vaccine production and help avoid the development of further COVID-19 variants like Omicron, which may impact people in Scotland, including in the Lothian region.
Supported by:
Karen Adam, Clare Adamson, Jackie Baillie, Neil Bibby, Maggie Chapman, Foysol Choudhury, Pam Duncan-Glancy, Joe FitzPatrick, Christine Grahame, Rhoda Grant, Emma Harper, Bill Kidd, Michael Marra, John Mason, Stuart McMillan, Jenni Minto, Carol Mochan, Paul O'Kane, Emma Roddick, Alex Rowley, Colin Smyth, Collette Stevenson, Paul Sweeney, Mercedes Villalba, Martin Whitfield