Following the postponement of the World Trade Organization’s 12th Ministerial Conference due to the emergence of the Omicron variant, Amnesty International reiterates its call on WTO member states to immediately agree the proposed TRIPS waiver on intellectual property for Covid-19 health tools. The emergence of a new variant, with multiple mutations, is sadly all too predictable given the immense and unabated vaccine inequality created by wealthy nations and pharmaceutical companies and underscores the need for the waiver.
