Sir, – The Covid-19 crisis is escalating in the Global South (the term which usually refers broadly to the regions of Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania).
It is clear donations won't cut it to end this pandemic. The G7 leaders have pledged one billion vaccine doses. ("G7 to donate 1 billion Covid vaccine doses to poorer countries", June 11th)
However the World Health Organisation estimates the world needs about 11 billion doses to get this pandemic under control, and that’s not including booster shots.
The holders of the rights to make vaccines have so far blocked efforts to increase production capacity around the world.
The intellectual property (Trips) waiver supported by 100 countries including the US should be formally endorsed as a priority by the Irish Government. – Yours, etc,
Dr CIARA CONLAN,
Access to Medicines Ireland.