Jim Clarken: We need global vaccine equity, not excuses
Leo Varadkar played down the initially supportive noises from senior Government figures after Joe Biden said he'd support waiving patents on vaccines to accelerate their rollout around the world.
US president Joe Biden’s announcement in support of waiving patents on Covid-19 vaccines to help increase global vaccine production is massive step in the right direction. Disappointingly, initial signals of support for the US announcement from senior Irish ministers such as Simon Coveney and Stephen Donnelly were quickly downplayed by Tánaiste Leo Varadkar.
By the end of last weekend, Taoiseach Micheál Martin and his European counterparts, including those initially supportive, papered over significant differences in positioning between and within countries by urging caution. This is hugely regretful for the billions of unvaccinated people around the world because the reasons put forward by EU leaders to support their approach do not stand up to scrutiny.
