Global AIDS organization AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) said on Thursday that an EU Ambassador has dismissed as premature a call by India to urgently convene a World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference to continue moving forward the debate on a proposed waiver of intellectual property rights protections on COVID-19 vaccines.

Both India and South Africa have advanced a proposal at the WTO to suspend patent protections on COVID-19 vaccines over a year ago.

While the US and many other nations support this measure, the EU and several other wealthy countries have done their utmost to stall the debate. It remains to be seen if growing social unrest in Europe and financial shocks brought on by repeated lockdowns will be enough to convince the EU that the current course of action on vaccine hoarding and protectionism is not sustainable during a pandemic.

In the next two months, Omicron could infect 50% of Europeans, according to the WHO, but the EU is blocking the expanded access to COVID-19 vaccines around the world, said AHF president Michael Weinstein.