Pope’s Xmas Message: Vaccines For All, Ignore Patents

ABC News reports:

Pope Francis made a Christmas Day plea for authorities to make Covid-19 vaccines available to all, insisting that the first in line should be the most vulnerable and needy, regardless of who holds the patents for the shots.

“Vaccines for everybody, especially for the most vulnerable and needy,” who should be first in line, Francis said in off-the-cuff remarks from his prepared text, calling the development of such vaccines “light of hope” for the world.

He called on the leaders of nations, businesses and international organizations to “promote cooperation and not competition, and to search for a solution for all.”

The Wall Street Journal reports:

“We must not allow closed nationalisms to impede us from living as the true human family that we are,” the pope said. “Nor must we allow the virus of radical individualism to defeat us and render us indifferent to the suffering of other brothers and sisters.

“I cannot put myself before others, putting the laws of the market and patents above the laws of love and the health of humanity. I plead with all the leaders of states, businesses and international organizations to promote cooperation and not competition and to seek a solution for all, vaccines for all, especially the most vulnerable and needy,” he added.