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tv   DW News  Deutsche Welle  May 7, 2021 10:00am-10:31am CEST

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this is d w news live from berlin and growing international calls to wave patterns on covert 19 vaccines the u.s. backs the idea that germany slams the proposal and sides with drug makers. also coming up india's coronavirus catastrophe spills of the broad neighbor the fall is struggling with
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a record surge and cases those who can leave are rushing to the last flights out and germany's leadership race is heating up with less than 5 months until the next election the greens are enjoying a balanced whole lives ahead of and the americans conservatives plus new life new hope we need a 100 door an asylum seeker who fled gang violence at home and now dreams of opening his own barber shop in the united states. i'm sorry kelly welcome to the program germany is skeptical about calls to lift corona virus vaccine patents some experts believe that sharing the formula of vaccines can mean faster inoculations but the german government is siding with the pharmaceutical industry saying the following the protection of intellectual property is a source of innovation and must remain so in the future the limiting factor in the
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creation of vaccines our production capacities and high quality standards not the patents. but the proposal to temporarily wave patents on covert 19 vaccines has powerful supporters the u.s. is now backing the idea of the e.u. 2 says it is open to discussion here's more. perhaps it's pictures like these from india that sparked a change of heart. the u.s. announced its support for waiving that same patient on wednesday soon after the e.u. said that it too would be willing to talk about it. some months aid organizations have raised the alarm about how vaccines are being distributed with poor and middle income countries left behind. we need our governments to push the vaccine manufacturers to transfer the technology transfer know how into help other
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manufacturers around the world scale up production but the pharmaceutical industry sees things differently they say producing vaccines is a highly complex process and that allowing the vaccines to be replicated by others could impact safety and quality what happens now is in the hands of the w.t.r. but a quick decision is unlikely. and let's get more we are joined by chief political correspondent linda crandall and i mean we saw the official response from the german government a bit earlier just walk us through what's behind this justification when it comes to skepticism on lifting vaccine patents. well 2 reasons 1st of all germany is home to several major pharmaceutical companies and it insists that the industry will only invest a 1000000000 set are needed to develop new vaccines and medications if it's able to recoup expenses through licensing but beyond that germany has an additional
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argument and this white is in fact shared by many scientific and public health experts worldwide namely that the global shortage of vaccines we're seeing stands not from restricted licensing on the part of big pharma but from scarcity of the raw materials needed to make the axioms and from the complexity of the manufacturing process which requires highly skilled trained workers who are also in short supply and it's worth noting that on the raw materials front the u.s. itself has been holding back exports of materials to countries including india in order to ensure that those materials are available for domestic u.s. production so in some ways this new u.s. proposal could be seen as an attempt to distract from prior that seen nationalism with a strong effect seen populism and so now we could see germany potentially block the u.s. proposal is that what's at play here or yes because this will be cited and decided
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in the world trade organization and they have already been arguing over vaccine way proposals from india and south africa for the past 7 months without agreeing agreement is a must for any decision taken by the w t o because it operates on consensus so this proposal is not a quick fix to the pressing problem of an ongoing patent and make this taking a toll on billions of unvaccinated people worldwide chief political correspondent melinda graham breaking down all of those various aspects to this story thank you so much. and we're going to get now the view from dr catriona appeared to hoff she is a health scientist from the university of amsterdam welcome to the program and thank you so much for joining us here on t.v. news we'd like to begin by asking you what you think about the skepticism over removing patent protections. i don't think the skepticism is unfounded
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removing protections is an important 1st step that's part of legal access to intellectual property now of course another piece of this puzzle is scaling up global manufacturing capacity which is also essential but doing so rests in the companies that need to share their technology know how and knowledge in order to achieve this globally ok so then how do you respond to the rationale for example from the german government from the pharmaceutical industry which says that in the long run this actually does more harm than good in order to waive these patents i mean that they cite things for example like you know production capacity high quality standards you know supporting innovation going forward what's your how do you respond to that. sure scaling up production capacity is something that we urgently need to do if not in this pandemic which would be a mistake we need to do it for future pandemic preparedness so that is a given
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a 2nd argument to vote innovation the potential to chill innovation companies have earned a tremendous amount in this this year alone on covert back scenes $7000000000.00 us dollars for pfizer that seems like more than a sufficient amount to be investing in innovation in the future moreover patent protection didn't deliver the vaccines that we have now significant government intervention and government investment from across the world has done that for us so i think there's there's certainly scope to to counter indeed some of these arguments ok let me ask you to perhaps counter something else at this was said by pres french president emanuel mccrum she is saying that a waiver would not solve the problem of access to vaccines as manufacturers in places like africa they're not equipped actually to make the cold the 19 vaccines what do you say to that. currently around the world we're using 43 percent of the
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world's global 95 minute fraction capacity so there is certainly scope to scale that up doesn't rely 7 on technology transfer capacity building quality assurance process is absolutely but that should be a global priority for us considering the challenge they were in right now and to touch on the quality elements the world health organization and national drug regulators and regional drug regulators around the world are engaged in ensuring the quality and the safety of the products that are licensed and that come out of these facilities so we have these measures in place and that's why our vaccines currently are safe how do you see this all playing out i mean going forward just to just ask you you know what you're thinking in terms of what you're hearing from the various governments in the various companies because when we have the u.s. announcing the support for waiving patents i mean do you think that this is now just the opening move and if he can't be pushed through on the political level
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through the world health organization because it's not unanimous are you hopeful that maybe some of the drug makers might take steps on their own to share some of this technology. right so we're certainly out a tipping point and we've reached this point because so few companies have willingly and voluntarily licensed their knowledge you know how and so on to scale of production one positive example of this is the astra zeneca oxford collaboration with a certain institute in india for example so it shows it is possible there's just been a reticence on the part of companies to do so and 7 the waiver is well let me put it this way. a company choosing to voluntarily license their knowledge and know how that is a much more attractive option for them then having their ip and pantry rights waived in this current proposal that's on the table so i believe where we are certainly reaching the end of the rope in terms of viable options to scale up. the
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manufacturing and vaccine capacity and this is a an essential step in the negotiating process ok so a call to action we'll see if governments and companies out there answer that call that you're making today dr catalina off as we mentioned you're a health scientist from the university of amsterdam and we thank you so much for joining us to share your expertise thanks for having me. here are some other developments in the pandemics australian national stranded in india might be able to return home later this month the government is to allow we petri dish and flights to resume japan is extending restrictions in tokyo bars restaurants and night life will have to close under the state of emergency and in france the strain on the hospital system is easing the number of intensive care patients has seen the biggest drop in the year. india is still registering record daily covert 19
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deaths and infections officials have reported more than 400000 new cases in the last day almost 4000 people have died. international aid is now flowing in to support overwhelmed hospitals india has been hit hard by a new variant mass gatherings of recent religious and political rallies have also been blamed for spreading the virus. neighboring nepal is also struggling to contain an explosion in cases of vaccines are in short supply and nearly half of those tested are found to be positive it is fear that the situation maybe may be as bad if not worse than india for. getting out while they still can. these passengers are on the last flights out of kathmandu as new poll suspends international air travel. over you because you just i'm glad that
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i'm able to leave nepal where the covert 19 situation is getting really bad. like neighboring india nepal is reeling from a deadly 2nd wave of the coronavirus the porous border between the 2 countries has contributed to skyrocketing case number was. nepal's main towns and cities are in lockdown the health ministry says the situation is unmanageable doctors and nurses are being pushed to their limits. to date we have not turned anyone away without providing them with oxygen. but the situation is getting complicated. but the view from the better our colleagues are working very hard they are on duty for 24 hours we have even been giving oxygen to patients in chairs. nepal has called for international help as case numbers hit record highs the
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country's neglected health care system is facing collapse. with the lockdown in place many migrant workers have returned from the cities to their homes in rural areas while katmandu is hospital struggle to save lives fear is growing of outbreaks in the remote regions lacking health care infrastructure. let's bring in now as part of the international federation of the red cross and the red crescent society is in nepal he joins us from the capital come on do thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us your organization is helping there on the ground what's most urgently needed. yeah yeah as we report just said the situation with the 2nd wave. is very deadly and alarming and just to give you some quick figures just in the possibly weeks the code bit rate has increased by about 50 times and in macho we were talking about
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100 infections a day but just in the last few days we're talking about over 7000. there and the death rate is also one president at least and we are talking about over $58.00 deaths each day. this is often also very very alarming diagnostic work with the red cross cross volunteers on the ground the red cross volunteers are very very active. the dealing with preventive measure support to national and medical services as well as vets and nation effort and as you may also be aware that many of the richer countries we're talking about a rate of x. a nation about 30 percent whereas in the paul it's barely one percent at the moment is it set to get worse than in india you think i mean me you've been on the ground there in fact we're going to see some footage you know that you sent to us in fact
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of how you have been experiencing this 1st hand where do you see this trajectory going right now is it getting worse is it better if you look at. yes it's definitely getting it's very bad at the moment india has about 48 times the population of nepal and if you multiply that by the number of infections which is over 7000 a day and a death rate of $5455.00 a day in the last few days the figures are very close and if we do not do anything fost to to put the situation under control it could be just on par with the situation in india what do you need to get the situation under control in your fancy. 3 main things the red cross is very active on the preventive measures. in 22 of the 77
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districts and that paul and common do the common do valley where there's a lot of infections. volunteers are dealing with safety messages hand washing social distancing supporting quarantine and promoting vaccination the 2nd is that a lot of volunteers are also helping national and local authorities with medical services and you in your report we're talking about lack of oxygen in the hospitals and there are also lack of frontline work in the hospitals and you will see in some of the hospitals people are just lying on the floor and finally vaccines and vaccination the red cross has also been supporting the public authorities the health authorities in getting back the nation to the arms of people right now there is a huge shortage of vaccines and this is an area that we really need to do more with
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the international community and with congress not only in that palled around the will i want to stress the fact that no one is safe unless everyone is safe that's a really important message and one that we thank you for joining us here on t.w. news to share we also thank you for the work that you were doing there not all of the international federation of the red cross and the red crescent societies in the paul we appreciate that thank you. here are some other stories making headlines around the world 25 people have been killed during a police operation against alleged drug traffickers and brazil rights groups are calling the death toll from the raid in a rio de janeiro slum reprehensible they are demanding an independent investigation protesters in colombia's capital bogota blocked traffic during a 9th day of demonstrations protests 1st flared up over
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a tax reform plan now scrapped activists are demanding action to cut poverty and and police violence they also want to fair health and education systems. myanmar and cooper testers have staged a flash mob marches in the city of young gone a group of ousted lawmakers say that they have formed a people's defense force to protect civilians nearly 800 people have been killed in a crackdown since the military seized power in february. indonesia's mountain of bond has erupted again spewing ash nearly 3 kilometers high villages near their volcano have already been evacuated because of recent activity there are no reports so far of any casualties. germany it heads into an election later this year with the leadership race wide open for the 1st time in
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nearly 2 years the green party is now leading in the polls surveys put them 4 points ahead of america's conservatives the greens recently selected only in a bare box to run for chancellor in september and she is so far proving to be popular. right after the nomination of a no they loved their book as chancellor candidate for the greens polls showed her party in the lead ahead of chancellor angela merkel's conservatives a temporary bump many thought a brief surge on the back of her designation and a difficult few weeks for the ruling conservative bloc but almost 3 weeks later the bear book effect appears to be sticking. the greens are now pulling ahead of the c.d.u. c.s.u. with a 4 percent increase compared to a month ago the conservatives have dropped 4 points and their partner in the current government the social democrats have also lost some support it's not only the green party and the enough they have of herself is riding high 28 percent of
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germans would vote for her if the chancellor could be elected directly a few percentage points above her opponents for the conservatives and all of shows for the social democrats the rise of the green party goes hand in hand with the drop in the government's approval ratings. a majority of germans now say they are dissatisfied with the work of the government after record approval in 2020 skepticism has grown about the government's crisis management during the 2nd and 3rd waves of the coronavirus pandemic and it shows the election is still more than 4 months away and anything could happen in the race but these numbers show that the greens pose a serious challenge to america's conservatives. undocumented immigration at the u.s. southern border will be at the top of the agenda and a virtual meeting between the united states vice president camila harris and
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mexico's president andres manuel lopez obrador recent months have seen a sharp increase in central american asylum seekers reaching the border between the 2 nations they flee from violence poverty and hardship in their countries of origin our correspondent carolyn to reports from miami florida where she caught up with a man from us who is cautiously building a future in his new home. 3 months ago we met so sad among the models mexico he and his family among starters were sleeping on a sidewalk on the mexican side of the u.s. southern border they also pledged from violence in their home country and duress the moment i saw they threatened me and my family my hands it would. be your own because we had no choice but to flee a little. girl did nothing if the gangs have a problem with you or they will hunt you down the road and they will kill you.
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it was a dangerous journey that took them several weeks on food and by bus where miami florida now says are made it finally to the united states while he's waiting for his asylum to be approved he's working here at this barber shop. so. all the workers here have a similar story they came from cuba the dominican republic and like says from under us they all know how difficult it is to start all over again in a country you don't know the most important thing for says have now is to keep up with his speech up there called me and. every new beginning is difficult but the most important thing is to never stop. sometimes it still feels surreal for him to finally be here caraway from those who threaten his life and his
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family's the last major hurdle he must overcome is to be granted asylum this could take up to 3 years but at least now they have hope. that what i thought good thing was i would like to see my family progressing we must find a way to succeed in this country the boy. he says it would be nice to own his own barber shop again like the one he had in the wood as before the gangs forced him to fleet says arse biggest wish is to see his children fulfill their own dreams. and sports manchester united and have punched their tickets to football's europa league final rome of the united 32 but the english teams win in the 1st leg means that they go through on aggregate arsenal versus ended scoreless the spanish side advance after winning the 1st match
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and in the bundesliga how to berlin made up the 2nd of 3 games postponed while they were in coronavirus quarantine spurred on the real prospect of relegation how to rock out 3 nil winners against freiburg coach powder knew his heritage berlin team needed to do better than the one point they got against minds in their 1st game back from quarantine for books christian strikes was all smiles this game essentially meaningless to them. and had to showed they meant business christophe beyond tech opening the scoring in the 13th minute. jordan toward an audi got denied but p.r. in tech fired in at an impossible angle for the keeper 9 minutes later pay to package it doubled had his lead. in a minute i don't h. made a nifty move and put the ball right where pair could it could head in. and then in
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the final minutes done each took the ball at the halfway line and was off to the races. 3 nil fair to assert her solo effort from the serbia international. now it was dark smiling past his hair to racked up 3 huge points and still have one more game in hand over their rivals in the relegation battle. now a bottle of wine is set to sell for up to $1000000.00 it is not just any old why the petrus 2000 has been in space to test whether wine ages differently in 0 gravity conditions now the bottle is up for auction in britain. this wine truly is out of this world station used in onto it recently returned to earth from the international space station where it spent 14 months
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maturing in orbit he'll be able to tell them part to do it but a journey through the stars comes with an astronomical price tag. so an earth petrus 2000 normally will cost around $7000.00 euros. and the estimate for this piece is in the region of $1000000.00 u.s. dollars. and the wine tasting was conducted to determine any extraterrestrial tannins. they were both beautiful the lettering on earth was a little younger than the one leaving a. pool porch very me the difference between the space and earth lying this was here and it wasn't easy to define it for us i'm not sure i got it right but you can see if i'm being honest it was difficult. to help the winning bidder will also
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receive a bottle of the same wine that remained on earth in order to compare the galactic version with the terrestrial that is should they decide to open their one of a kind of space age whining. up next on the w. news it is global $3000.00 the globalization program there's always more on the web site as well. i'm sorry kelly in berlin thanks for watching.
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crowd diversity on our fields is under threat as more and mostly violence and. monocultures keep spreading to the detriment of our health a massive our ecosystem. how can we preserve and disseminates traditional scenes
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a cooperative in ecuador is leading the way global 3000. next on d w. the german on common. blood is the symbolic relationship between politics and the automobile industry trade knocking. the engine of the german economy in speakin into. her. mind to spell the end of the road for germany's car industry. 45000000. in many countries education is still a privilege poverty is one of the main causes some young children working mine shafts instead of going to class others can attend classes family after they finish
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uni. millions of children all over the world have to go to school. and when asked why. because education makes the world more just. make up your own mind. d.w. made for minds. welcome to global 3 thousands. access to clean water is a basic human right but what if it's not readily available we hear about one solution from uganda and the winds of change.