Demonstrations Against Vaccine Apartheid Planned During German Chancellor Merkel’s Visit to US

UPDATE: A twitter thread with photos and video from many of the protests is online here.

Civil society groups across the United States are planning demonstrations against vaccine apartheid at over a dozen German consular offices in the days leading up to German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit to the United States in mid-July.

While Americans increasingly have widespread access to COVID vaccination, huge numbers of people in low- and middle-income nations won’t have access to vaccines for years longer unless global production is increased dramatically.

The vast majority of countries around the world — including the United States — support a call made by South Africa and India to temporarily waive trade-related intellectual property rights (TRIPS) at the World Trade Organization for COVID vaccines, so that they can be produced in as many places as possible as quickly as possible.  But the European Union, led by Germany, continues to oppose such an agreement.

“Over 130 organizations representing public health, human rights, faith, labor and other constituencies sent a letter to President Biden recently calling on him to use all possible diplomatic means to press the EU to negotiate on a TRIPS waiver in good faith,” said Arthur Stamoulis, executive Director of Citizens Trade Campaign.  “Every day that Germany continues to obstruct a fast and effective waiver agreement means more needless death, more families pushed into poverty and increased chances of a viral mutation that can evade current vaccines and start the pandemic all over for everyone.”

Chancellor Merkel’s planned visit to the United States on July 15th comes shortly before the next big WTO meeting during which life-or-death decisions on the TRIPS waiver will be made.

Advocates of the TRIPS waiver are planning to protest against vaccine apartheid not just in Washington, DC — but outside German consular offices in the following locations:

These actions follow earlier protests in DC and at German consulates calling on the German government and EU to support the waiver.

For more info, write to merkelprotests@citizenstrade.org.

Seattle, WA

Boston, MA

Dallas, TX

New York, NY

San Francisco, CA

Houston, TX