21/01/2022 (Agence Europe) – The General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), Luca Visentini, has called for universal access to coronavirus vaccines in a letter to the European Commission on Monday 17 January. In order to do this, he is once again asking the European Commission (his last request was in April 2021) to support the temporary and targeted TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) waiver proposed by South Africa and India in October 2020 at the World Trade Organization (WTO). WTO rules provide for the possibility of suspending intellectual property rules in exceptional circumstances. For trade unions, the pandemic is such a circumstance. Some MEPs are also calling for the lifting of patents in the face of the failure of the Covax programme (see EUROPE 12854/19). To view the letter: https://bit.ly/33V3v5E (PH)