Letter to Seattle City Council: Biden Admin Must Make Covid-19 Vaccines Available for All
Hindus for Human Rights sent this letter to the Seattle City Council on April 26th, 2021.
April 26, 2021
To: Seattle City Council Members
M. Lorena González, President
Lisa Herbold, Member
Debora Juarez, Member
Andrew J. Lewis, Member
Tammy J. Morales, Member
Teresa Mosqueda, Member
Alex Pedersen, Member
Kshama Sawant, Member
Dan Strauss, Member
Dear Councilmembers,
Please support Councilmember Sawant’s resolution (Res. 32004) calling upon the Biden administration to stop blocking the World Trade Organization’s TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) Waiver. This is a critical step that would make Covid-19 vaccine access available for billions of people around the world, particularly those living in low-income countries.
Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR) is a US-based nonprofit nonpartisan organization founded in 2019. We advocate for pluralism and civil and human rights in South Asia and North America, rooted in the values of our Hindu faith: shanti (peace), nyaya (justice) and satya (truth). We provide a Hindu voice of resistance to caste, Hindutva (Hindu authoritarianism), racism, and all forms of bigotry and oppression.
As a civil and human rights organization, we strongly believe that all people around the world must have equal access to the lifesaving Covid-19 vaccines. We would like to draw the City Council’s attention in particular to India, which has become the global epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic. India is in a catastrophic state right now, due in part to the incompetence of its own right-wing government as well as global economic inequality and the profit-seeking behavior of large pharmaceutical companies.
We work closely with grassroots organizations providing Covid-19 relief to India’s most marginalized communities: women, the poor, Dalits, Adivasis, and Muslims. The organizations we work with are active in New Delhi and the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh. Every organization we are in touch with has expressed the need for global solidarity and material aid to be sent to India. The Seattle City Council can play its part by supporting Councilmember Sawant’s resolution.
Yesterday, the Biden administration announced that they would be sending raw materials for vaccine production to India. Today, the administration announced that the United States will begin sharing up to 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine with other countries following a federal safety review. These are welcome steps, but it was unfortunate that the Biden administration initially refused to release the embargo on raw materials. It was only after public outcry and the efforts of activists across the world that the Biden administration reversed its course.
Given the scale of India’s Covid-19 crisis, we firmly believe that sending raw vaccine materials is not enough. We join our allies at the Coalition of Seattle Indian-Americans and the over 400 community organizations, labor unions, and faith-based organizations who are calling on the Biden administration to waive the United States’ blockage of the Waiver from Certain Provisions of the TRIPS Agreement for the Prevention, Containment and Treatment of COVID-19. We must put people over profits so that vaccines can be produced worldwide, and so that no country will face vaccine shortages.
We also join our colleagues who are calling on the Biden administration to send emergency aid to India in the form of oxygen and crucial medical supplies. This aid must be equitably distributed to India’s most vulnerable populations, including the 60 million inter-state migrant workers who have lost their livelihoods as a result of the pandemic.
We conclude with a well-known Hindu prayer:
oṃ sarve bhavantu sukhinaḥ
sarve santu nirāmayāḥ
sarve bhadrāṇi paśyantu
mā kaścid-duḥkha-bhāgbhavet
May all be happy.
May all be free from disease.
May all know that which is good.
May no-one suffer.
Please note the second line of this prayer: “May all be free from disease.” In the current moment, we need the Biden administration to help make this hope a reality for India’s 1.37 billion people, and the billions of other people living in low-income countries.
Sincerely,
Hindus for Human Rights
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