Labour says UK must ‘get off the fence’ over global Covid vaccine access

Labour says UK must ‘get off the fence’ over global Covid vaccine access

The Labour party is urging Boris Johnson to lead a drive by rich countries to boost global Covid-19 vaccine production and is warning the threat from new coronavirus variants will persist without immediate action.

Five members of the shadow cabinet have written to the trade secretary, Liz Truss, with a proposed 10-point plan designed to increase the ability of poorer countries to manufacture and distribute treatments for the virus.

In an article for the Guardian the shadow trade secretary, Emily Thornberry, says Britain should “get off the fence” and back US demands for a vaccine patent waiver, while stressing that changes to intellectual property rights will not solve the problem of limited vaccine coverage in Asia, Africa and Latin America on their own.