Activists Protest Outside AstraZeneca Office In Cambridge Demanding Vaccine Patent Waivers

LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th May, 2021) Activists have gathered outside the headquarters of AstraZeneca in Cambridge, blocking the building, to demand that the pharmaceutical company drop patent protections for coronavirus vaccines, Our Future Now, a youth group affiliated with the protest's organizers, said on Tuesday.

The demonstration was organized by the UK-based Global Justice Now social justice organization in light of pharmaceutical firms behind coronavirus vaccines refusing to waiver patents following an appeal from Washington. The drug company has argued that patent protection will be effective in curbing the pandemic, while the best strategy is to expand drug production capacities.

"Activists have blockaded @AstraZeneca during their annual shareholder meeting. AZ must #joinCTAP to share vaccine know-how with the world We need an end to profit before lives in the Global South," the group wrote on Twitter.

Some demonstrators, demanding "a vaccine for global health not shareholder profit," have chained themselves to the doors of the office, while others are playing drums outside the building.

"AZ pledged to keep vaccine at cost price during the pandemic yet private doses in India are being charged almost 4x more than EU price while their masses face turmoil," the group added.

A solidarity protest is also taking place outside the University of Oxford, which was also involved in the development of the AstraZeneca vaccine.