PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa said on Tuesday that passing a time-bound, targeted TRIPS waiver on patents on COVID-19 products was urgent to save millions of lives during the pandemic.
“This is not the time just to be uni-dimensionally focused on just profit. This is the time to save lives,” Ramaphosa told an event organised by the World Trade Organization.
He said an unequal access to vaccines presents a huge risk to a sustained global recovery.
“The Economist Intelligence Unit estimates that vaccine inequality will come at a cost of some $2.3 trillion to global GDP between 2022 and 2025,” said Ramaphosa.
“We therefore need to reaffirm the principle of global solidarity and the role of open, inclusive multilateralism.”
Ramaphosa pointed out that the aspirations of the Marrakesh Agreement should be at the centre of global actions towards a post COVID-19 economic recovery.
“We need to recognise that trade is not an
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