With Open Letters, the Jesuit Mission Germany & Austria and the Medical Mission Institute Würzburg call on the governments of Germany and Austria to temporarily suspend patent rights for the Covid-19 vaccines in line with a proposal by India and South Africa.

"If this proposal were followed, and accompanied by adequate technical and financial support, more vaccines could be produced worldwide and reach the poor faster than would be the case with all other proposals currently on the negotiating table," the letter to Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chancellor Kurz reads. Already in September 2020, Pope Francis had demanded that poor countries be given priority in the supply of vaccines.

While the World Trade Organisation (WTO) normally decides by consensus, the WTO agreement not only allows for the temporary suspension of patent rights due to "exceptional circumstances" caused by the global pandemic, but also the possibility of a three-quarters majority vote if consensus cannot be reached. "Such an approach would also eliminate the problem of those states blocking this proposal that at the same time buy up the majority of the vaccine currently produced for their own populations." The proposal by India and South Africa is now supported by more than half of WTO member states, as well as UN and aid agencies around the world.

This campaign is the first time that donors and supporters of our works have worked together with project partners around the world. Co-initiator Jörg Alt SJ of jesuitenweltweit: "If we want to win the fight against the pandemic, it must not be about rich versus poor. It is about the global common good of all. With Jesuit aid agencies in Spain and the UK taking action with regard to their governments, we now also want to try to break our governments out of the 'club of blockers'. To set an example, we as friends and supporters in Europe are working together with our project partners in developing countries in this advocacy action!"