12/09/20 12/09/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> we need a vaccine that everyone can have free of charge , no matter where you live or whether you are rich or poor. we need coanies to share all the research so we can make enough vaccine for everyone. vaccine owned by all

of us. amy: while the united states, britain, and other wealthy nations race to vaccinate their populations, a new report finds as many as nine out of 10 people in dozens of poorer countries could miss out on the coronavirus vaccine until at least 2022 because wealthy countries have hoarded enough doses to vaccinate their entire populations nearly three times over. we will look at the growing movement to develop a people's vaccine. then to the case of brandon bernard black man scheduled to , a be executed thursday, on international human rights day. kid when thisg crime happened. knowsy who knows brandon he would never have consented to killing people as what happened. amy: brandon bernard is one of five people scheduled to be executed by the federal

government in the final weeks of the trump administration. these are the first executions during a president's lame-duck period, federal executions, in over 130 years. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. the u.s. recorded over 2500 deaths and over 215,000 confirmed covid-19 cases yesterday alone. as the average number daily cases has sailed past 200,000, health experts say the first signs of spikes related to thanksgiving travel are starting to emerge. cases have risen over the last week in 38 states and the district of columbia. on tuesday, president-elect joe biden officially introduced his coronavirus response team and outlined his goals for tackling

the pandemic when he takes office. mr. biden: masking, vaccinations, opening schools -- these are the three key goals for my first 100 days. this team will help get at the latest -- at the last 100 million covid-19 vaccine, at least 100 lien coveted vaccine shots and -- covid vaccine shots into the armor of the mega people in the first 100 days. amy: t food and drug administration has found the pfizer-biontech coronavirus vaccine to bsuccessful in clinical trials, bringing it one step closer to being authorized for widespread use. authorities say they will start distributing the vaccine within days of an emergency use authorization, which is expected perhaps tomorrow. this comes as some trial participants warn they experienced intense symptoms, including chills, headaches, and fatigue after the second shot, which needs to be administered about three weeks after the

first dose. a new report finds that as many as nine out of 10 people in dozens of poorer countries could miss out on the coronavirus vaccine next year as the bulk of the supply is bought up by wealthier nations. the people's vaccine alliance says wealthy countries are hoarding enough doses to vaccinate their populations nearly three times over. in other coronavirus news, iran says u.s. sanctions have prevented it from making a payment to covax -- the u.n.'s mechanism to ensure fairly distribution of vaccines -- possibly putting its receipt of nearly 17 million doses in jeopardy. that amount would cover around 10% of iran's population. in california, coronavirus cases inside prisons have once again skyrocketed with more than 4000 active infections among prisoners, the highest number since the ndemic began. together, or 22,000 prisoners have tested positive

for covid-19 in california and at least 90 have died. prisoners at san quentin say authorities are preparing to transfer people to other prisons despite covid-19 levels being at an all-time high. this is the award-winning incarcerated journalist juan haines speaking to democracy now! from san quentin. >> the problem with the transfer , our leaders are telling us stay-at-home, don't mingle with people you don't know, wear our mask inside -- which we are all i know we can't be operating on alternative facts when it comes to enclosed buildings. we can't have one set of rules for restaurants, gyms, hair another for, and

prisons. amy: he recently recovered from covid-19. meanwhile in new jersey, dozens of activists have been leading daily protests outside bergen county jail for two weeks in solidarity with immigrant prisoners held at the jail who have been on hunger strike for nearly one month. immigration rights advocates reported monday at least four of the six hunger strikers had been taken to the emergency room unconscious. the hunger strikers are demanding better health and safety conditions and for the release of all prisoners during the covid-19 pandemic. in news from washington, d.c., the white house put forward a $916 billion stimulus package tuesday in the hopes of breaking a stalemate in congress. the proposal provides some relief for state and local governments and includes liability protections for businesses, which republicans have insisted on. it does not include the weekly enhanced unemployment benefits from the first stimulus bill but would extend other federal unemployment programs that expire soon. it would include one-off direct payments of $600 per person, half the amount of the previous

bill. on tuesday, the supreme court rejected a republican challenge to the election results in pennsylvania. trump and republicans have lost some 50 legal challenges since trump was defeated by joe biden in the election and have failed to overturn results in any state. despite this, congressional republican leaders rejected a resolution tuesday recognizing joe biden as president-elect. president-elect joe biden will reportedly select tom vilsack as his agriculture secretary, reprising the role he held under former president obama. the news drew immediate condemnation from progressives and environmental and labor activists over vilsack's track record of supporting corporate interests over farmers', loosening regulations, and backing of genetically modified, herbicide resistant crops. vilsack also backed the mega-merger between bayer and monsanto. he is currently the president and ceo of the u.s. dairy export council, which represents large

corporate dairy interests. many small family farms have been decimated in recent years due to agricultural monopolies and plunging dairy prices. in other cabinet news, ohio congressmember marcia fudge has been tapped to lead the department of housing and urban development. if confirmed, fudge would be the first african-american woman to lead hud. following the news, many progressives expressed hope former ohio state senator and prominent bernie sanders surrogate nina turner would run for fudge's congressional seat. in international news, ethiopia admitted federal troops fired at and detained u.n. workers in the conflict-torn northern tigray region for attempting to enter areas they say are forbidden. humanitarian groups have been trying to reach refugees and displaced people in the embattled region as they warn the situation is increasingly critical with shortages of food, clean water, and other necessities. this comes as reuters is reporting the united states believes eritrean soldiers have crossed into ethiopia to fight alongside the ethiopian military in its battle against tigrayan forces.

both ethiopia and eritrea have denied the reports. ethiopia and eritrea signed a historic peace deal in 2018, ending two decades of hostilities. a new study shows the number of afghan civilians killed in airstrikes led by the u.s. and allies has risen by 330% since 2017. the sty, publish by the costs of war project at brown university, reports in 2019 alone, about 700 people were killed by airstrikes carried out by the trump administration. meanwhile, save the children reports afghanistan w one of the most dangerous for children as a result of the ongoing war between the u.s.-backed afghan government and the taliban. u.n. data showed over 26,000 children had been killed or injured from 2005 to 2019. in paris, french president emmanuel macron welcomed egyptian leader abdel fattah el-sisi to the élysee palace monday, saying france would continue to sell weapons to egypt. this comes despite mounting

accusations of human rights violations against sisi's government -- including the use of forced disappearances, mass arrests, and torture amid an unprecedented crackdown on activists and journalists. this is president macron speaking monday. >> i will not condition matters of the economic operation and disagreements of human rights. first, because i believe in the sovereignty of the people's and in respect of our legitimate and reciprocal interests. amy: the number of displed people around the world because of conflict topped 80 million in in what the united nations calls 2020 a bleak milestone. the u.n. said the pandemic exacerbated the displacement crisis, despite calls early on from the secretary general for a global ceasefire while the world battles covid-19. areas that saw significant fresh displacement include syria, the democratic republic of congo, mozambique, somalia, yemen, and africa's central sahel region. in greece, human rights watch

warns refugees and humanitarian aid workers may be at risk of lead poisoning from a new refugee camp built by greek authorities on a former military shooting range on the island of lesbos. human rights watch says authorities didn't conduct proper testing on the soil before moving thousands of refugees to the new camp. in september, over 12,000 refugees were displaced after a massive fire completely destroyed the moria camp. currently, over 7500 people, mostly from afghanistan and syria, are living in the new camp. in the united states immigration news, the trump administration has agreed to extend temporary protective status for people from honduras, el salvador, nicaragua, haiti, sudan, and nepal until at least october 2021. the extension is part of a deal between plaintiffs and the u.s. government who have sued to preserve tps after the trump administration killed the humanitarian relief program earlier this year. this comes as immigration rights advocates have been demanding

the trump administration give tps to refugees from all central american countries devastated by hurricanes eta and iota. in related news, the norwegian refugee council is warning that over 400,000 people in honduras and guatemala are in urgent need of humanitarian aid in the wake of the two hurricanes. the house on tuesday overwhelmingly passed $741 billion defense bill with a veto-proof majority. the bill requires military bases be stripped of confederate names, which trump has previously said would lead him to veto the package. trump also threatened to veto if lawmakers do not crack down on social media companies he claims were biased against him in the election. the bill also will require federal officers at protests to identify themselves and their agencies following outcry over their presence and lack of accountability during racial justice protests over the summer. in addition, the defense measure calls for pay raises for troops

and slowing down the planned drawdown of forces in afghanistan and germany and makes it more difficult to deploy military personnel to the u.s.-mexico border. minnesota congressmember ilhan omar voted against the bill, saying -- "it is unconscionable to pass a pentagon budget that continues to fund unnecessary projects and endless wars during a time of widespread suffering across our country." in texas, the u.s. army has fired or suspended 14 officers and soldiers stationed at fort hood. this comes following an investigation into sexual assaults and murders at fort hood, including the bludgeoning to death of 20-year-old soldier vanessa guillén, whose remains were found in july. the probe was spurred in large part by pressure and advocacy from the guillén family. in response to the news, vanessa's sister mayra guillén said on twitter -- "this isn't justice. those responsible need to be held accountable not just fired. justice for vanessa guillen." in portland, oregon, at least seven people were arrested

tuesday during a standoff between the police and over 100 housing activists who were attempting to reclaim the home of an indigenous and black family evicted in september. authorities say the family was not predict -- protected by the moratorium because her home had been foreclosed. toldal business owner oregon public broadcasting "we should help another family stay in the community. we should not want to destroy them so we can build sky rice and apartment complexes to get wealthy." a federal appeals court has rejected the trump administration's approval of the construction of the country's first offshore oil production facility in federal arctic waters. the proposed project involved building a nine-acre artificial island so a private company could drill for oil in the beaufort sea. this comes as the trump administration is raci to sell l drillingights in the arctic national wildlife refuge before joe biden is sworn in. a major lease sale is scheduled

for january 6. and the longtime activist soren ambrose s died in kenya at the age of 57 from complications due to covid-19. he was a key strategist in the anti-globalization movement. as a member of the group 50 years is enough, he helped organize the april 2000 protests in washington against the world bank and the international monetary fund. in 2001, the "financial times" credited ambrose with "trying to dismantle the world's financial architecture." and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. when we come back, we will look at the growing movement to develop a people's vaccine. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report.

i'm amy goodman in new york joined by my co-host juan gonzález in new brunswick, new jersey. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: president-elect joe biden pledged tuesday to distribute 100 million vaccine shots in the first 100 days of his administration. biden's vow came on the same day britain began a mass vaccination program using a vaccine developed by pfizer-biontech. the vaccine is expected to be soon approved in the united states as well. as early as tomorrow. on tuesday, president trump held what he called a vaccine summit. trump claimed that covid deaths and hospitalizations would quickly decrease, but the white house coronavirus task force is warning the spread of covid would not be reduced until the spring based on current vaccination plans. a report bthe task force obtained by cnn states -- "the current vaccine implementation will not

substantially reduce viral spread, hospitalizations, or fatalities until the 100 million americans with comorbidities can be fully immunized, which will take until the late spring." meanwhile, a new report finds as many as nine out of 10 people in dozens of poorer countries could miss out on the coronavirus vaccine until at least 2022 because wealthy countries, including the united states, have hoarded enough doses to vaccinate their entire populations nearly three times over. the report was issued by the people's vaccine alliance which includes amnesty international, frontline aids, global justice now, and oxfam. this is winifred byanyima, executive direct of unaids, in a video produced by the people's vaccine alliance. >> huge pharmaceutic companies are keepinghe vacci research

secret. they are deciding how ma vaccines get made,ow much to charge for them, and w gets ccinated this wl no doubt leave billions of people behind. pharma companies are putting profit, not people, first. yet billions odollars of taxpayer money is fuing their work. we cannot let the ceos of a handful of pharmaceutical companies decide our fute. we need a vaccine that everyone can have free of charge. no matter where you live or whether you arrich or poor. we need companies to share all the research so we can make enough safe vaccine for everyone. owned by allcine

pandemic, wed-19 need to pull together once more. amy: that was the unaids executive director, part of the people's vaccine alliance. the world health organization has also warned about the inequitable distribution of the vaccine. this is who director general tedros adhanom ghebreyesus. >> we simply cannot accept a world in which the poor and marginalized are trampled the rich and powerful in the stampede for vaccines. this is a global crisis and the solutions must be shared equitably as global public goods, not as private commodities that widen inequalities. amy: we are joined by two

guests. in oxford, engla is dr. mohga kamal-yanni. she is a policy advisor to the people's vaccine alliance and to unaids, the joint u.n. program on hiv and aids. she has worked for decades on access to medicines and healthcare in developing countries. and in bangalore, india, achal prabhala, coordinator of the accessibsa project, which campaigns for access to medicines in india, brazil, and south africa. he recently co-authored an op-ed published in "the new york times" headlined "want vaccines fast? suspend intellectual property rights." we're going to begin with dr. mohga kamal-yanni. you're in oxford where one of those vaccine tests has began and that is astrazeneca oxford. start off by talking about what is the people's vaccine and what are the inequities right now?

who will get this vaccine, what countries and what countries want? ofvaccine is a coalition organizations like amnesty, frontline aids, global justice, oxfam. it is led by oxfam and unaids. comes so many people ngos,ic's, experts, patient oups from all over the world. thunited for one aids, which has a pple vaccine, not a prophet vaccine. so basically we are calling for vaccation that is available for all people at risk and and for everybody once we have enough doses. but not the way it is happening now where if you happen to be born in a rich country, you can the vaccine. if you happen to be born in poor countries country, you don't.

yesterday in the u.k., they started vaccinating older people and there was some clapping. it was a lot of joy. of course, it is brilliant, theris hope this problemhat we arell suffeng from- there is a light at the end of the tunnel. however, that joy is only limited to people living here. i have friends and relatives and people i work with in other cotries, developing countries, who are saying, yeah, and what about us? what about them? this is a big problem. there are so many -- it is diving the world between those who have and can pay and those who don't and can't pay and therefore, well, we don't know when you can get the vaccine. that is just not right. it is not right on moral grounds. it is t right on public health

grous because nobody is safe until everybody is say. yeah, how do you make everyby safe? also, on economic ground, you're not going to get the economy -- if one just country is vaccinated and the rest of the world is in. you can't trade wi people who a sick or people who have high level of infections. it just does not make sense at all. the other important point is this is not a fact of life that we have limited amount of vaccines. that is not the case. there are other options that will enable the world toroduce more vaccines and therefore, vaccinate more people. basically what is happening now, if you can imagine that we have a small dish that is one

vaccine. so basically, the rich can have the bigger share of it. few look for developing countries. why don't we inclusive -- increase supply rather than fighting? , in: dr. mohga kamal-yanni would ask about the astrazeneca oxford vaccine and how access may be more equitable at this stage. could you talk about some of the agreements thestrazeneca has reached with the coalition for epidemic prepared his innovations in the vaccine liance? vaccine hly, this been developed by oxford university oxford university has a standard on managing his electoral property. it has talked about open licenses. however, when they did the deal or the contractith astrazeneca, h became exclusive

license for astrazeneca. they managed to put some condions in the contract about making the vaccine accessible to developing countries. so astrazeneca went to one of the big vaccine producers in india, the serum institute, and made an agreement to produce o billion doses. that is vaccinating 500 million people -- half ofhem wi be in india. starta good way -- a good to make re vaccines available. astrazeneca also had some agreements with other countries like argentina and brazil so int means a number of peoe latin america. but what about theest of the population? no production and such. astrazeneca compared to others, thingsey have done good an fixing a price --

astrazeneca says $4. for developing countries, probably three dollars per dose. so six dollars per person per course. -- young is, this is can't leave the decision on supply, price, which country, which patiento companies. that is not their job. their job is to produce most of the job government is to make more production so you have to enable otherroducers like in india -- other countries. --if you allow technology sharing technology, which technology, by the way, a lot of it has been developed by public money, including from the u.s. d u.k. and europe and other countries. so allowing the sharing of technology and removing the intellectual property barrier,

so no patent on vaccines, than other companies can produce the vaccine and we have more. and just like astrazeneca did contracts with serum that includes presumably technology transfer, that can be done on a multilevel -- multinational level, bigger level for more companies. this deal, by the way, you don't know what is in it except what they announced. brother that if you have a multilevel agreement, the negotiation happens and close doors, then once they agree, then it is puic and you see what is good and bad about it. juan: what about the whole issue that many developing countries are relying on the possibility of an effective vaccine coming and china and china clinical trials for several vaccines, the potential for china being the one that

supplies the bulk of the vaccines to the majority of the people in the planet, what that would mean in terms of international retions and in the future? has four vaccines in clinical trial phase 3. today announced one of these vacnes pass clinical trials and they also rise to work in the country. they were convinced with the efficacy of the clinical trial. so if developing countries have --hing coming, they can't not going to sit and wait. they are talking to companies in europe and in america, but they're also talking to companies in china. the king of morocco said he is going to vaccinate his people and their aiming at vaccinating 80% of the population.

again, they have an agreement with a chinese company. ensuringpressure on these vaccines have high efficacy and safety level, you know, at least acceptable safety level. the thing is, we need all clinical trials get published. whether it is from china or pfizer or moderna. it is no good the companies announced it to investors in a press release so they have -- thshare value and market value increases but scientists are waiting who understand these things are not able to review the results because there's nothing published for them. transparency on that, including the chinese, so countries are aware of what they are buying. amy: i want to bring achal prabhala into the conversation, coordinator of the accessibsa

project, which campaigns for access to medicines in india, brazil, sout africa. this piece he recently wrote in "the new york times" titled "want vaccines fast? suspend intellectual property rights." you are joining us from bangalore, india. can you talk about what that would mean if you suspend intellectual property rights? talk about trade secrets. talk about patents. talk about government subsidies of these private companies and how does what is happening now, the development of this vaccine, compare to people's access, for example, to the flu vaccine? how that was developed and financed? >> thank you, amy. good to be here. thank you for having me. "the new yorkrote times" was geared to run an event unfolding this week and next, does not look like it will

get results anytime soon or successfully but that event is a proposal africa and india made at the wto to temporarily rule, an trade agreement on trade related aspects ofntellectual property. the super governance of intellectual property road wide, which the wto takes up. the reason india and south africa suggested all member countries of the wto should be exempted from provisions of trait is so everything we require to survive the pandemic -- masks, test kits, now the vaccine -- should be free to be made and as much capacity as possible to get them faster and cheaper to is many people as we can around the world. there is any overwhelming support from developing countries for this proposal, but the wto works on consensus,

which means even if five or six a rich countries proposed the proposal, it actually won't pass. that is what is happening. the u.s., eu, u.k., and a few other rich countries, as well as andil, oppose the proposal are stalling it, which means it is unlikely to go through without a fight. any -- irony of the fight taking place this week, good news out of the u.k. -- personally for me sitting in india, i wish i could share in the good news with the same celebration. 90-year-old said, i heard you had vaccines. they said, come over and get

one. he walked over and got the first dose of the pfizer vaccine. grandchildrenhis this christmas. it is a beautiful, touching story. the problem is, that pfizer vaccine, over 90% of its supplies until the end of 2021, so that means for the next 13 months, have been sold out to a handful of rich countries. to the u.s., u.k., e.u. there is no way anyone in india or anywhere outside these rich countries is going to get their hands on one of these vaccines for love or money. ofy just don't exist outside very few number of rich countries. that is kind of amazing to live through in 2020. covid.er had he is 87 years old. my mother is 72 years old. i would like them to have a vaccine and get one quickly.

the prospect of these vaccines being rolled out without a majority of the population of the world getting them is genuinely heartbreaking. that is the anger that partly prompted the piece. is this is such a dramatically different situation from when the flu vaccine was th.loped by jonas salk was best if was going to patent his invention he laughed and said, can you ften the sun? amy: and that was about the polio vaccine. >> i'm sorry, the polio vaccine. that is right. the tradition of jonas salk continues with the flu vaccine

that we all take. the who, the flu -- it isformerly the collaborative infrastructure they have set up at the who that involves 110 different countries, 130 different laboratories, which pull information on what strains of influenza are in their countries. that information is collected and every year, the who then releases what will be called a formula for the flu vaccine which than anyone anywhere can produce because it is completely free of any proprietary electoral property or monopoly, which means leads of people have taken it since the 1970's based on this cooperative, shared pooling knowledge as

well as finances. an that created a very robust infrastructure for the production of the flu vaccine. it is a great success. it is unfortunately the kind of thing not being done with the coronavirus vaccine. juan: achal prabhala, i would ask you, in terms of the refusal of these handful of rich countries to allow the suspension of intellectual property rights at the wto, what is the argument? given the enormous worldwide crisis that we are functioning, how do they defend this and what could possibly be done to overcome this resistance? , an excellent question. in some ways, i have been debating several people on this just this week after "the new york times" piece came out previously because of my work. i wish sometimes people would be honest and upfront and say,

look, we actually care about these corporations more than we do global human life. we are fine with a certain number of usually poor people dying for a lack of access to these vaccines as long as the companies and industry that makes them survives. there is -- i would be willing to listen to that argument because people are being honest. what happens instead is the arguments, a, it is not a problem. ,o say it is not a problem looking at history where millions of people have died for lack of access to drugs for aids and cancer and hepatitis c -- by the way dying today for lack of ,nsulin in the united states lack of access to cystic fibrosis drugs in the u.k.

system requires these anomalies to exist in order to reward private pharmaceutical corporations for taking big risks with private money. except for the fact that is not what is happening here. it never has happened but it never happened as badly as it is not happening in the pandemic. moderna, one of the vaccines posting successful results a couple of ago, has admitted by its own financial report that 100% of the vaccine developed project was funded by wall street and the was government, u.s. taxpayer money. on top of that, it has been given preorders of another 1.5 billion from the united states and another substantial amount of money during about $1 million from the european union.

every other vaccine from pfizer just resented also has substantial government money. driven taxpayer money for up to $445 million went into the pfizer vaccine. astrazeneca received huge subsidies to public money from the united kingdom to its early development at oxford university. all of these vaccines have on top of that received. the critic, very large preorders. it vaccine project literally contracted out. subsidy, it is not a subsidy, it is ownership. of $6nnot have a preorder billion, which is basically what pfizer has a waiting at, on successful completion of its trials and approvals and on top of that, say we also need the

electoral property monopoly because of all of this private capital we have risked. which does not actually seem to havexist. it doesn't hold water. this argument has a rich history of its embedded in a particular kind of thinking, particular branch of economics, which they know they can write off and in ie went through what -- at the debbie teal. amy: summing up in a around tradeu got secrets come if the companies were forced to release the trade secrets, they did not get patents on this, how would a people's vaccine work? every company all over could develop a vaccine where it is?

what is shocking, president trump signs of executive order, not clear how enforceable it is, called america first. we have learned if you are altruistic or not, someone is sick somewhere in the world, you danger. so this is -- everyone is in this together, but what would a people's vaccine -- how would it happen? >> what it requires is for companies to say there are two aspects of napoli will give us, we will share with you our patents and share with you our trade secrets. trade secrets by the technology required to make a vaccine. it is a very important part of the process. if they were to say, look, we will release this to any company with a reputation and certification that is willing to make this vaccine with us, then let's open it up and have anyone interested do it. and if they did that, they would suddenly find there are whole avenues around the world.

there over 20 vaccine manufacturers in india, but also on the continent of africa. there are number of reasons we can do this collaboratively. the one-way not to do it is the way they are, by producing these artificially limited quantities of these vaccines by keeping it all to themselves. dr.: i want to ask kamal-yanni again about the situation with the trump administration have removed the united states from the the world health organization. president-elect biden is saying he will return the u.s. to the who. what do you think has been the impact of the uted states pulling out of the who in the midst of this pandemic? >> what you say about such an incrediblely respsible i'm afraid decision in the middle of a pandemito

do that? a strange decion, even not a pandemic. it is really, really not very good. as aeam, to be honest, non-american come about your election, is to retain two things. in, the american role advancing global health, particularly joining the who, and also putting science before politics. this has been also very problematic from the u.s. it really affected not just decision-makers in other countries, but ordinary people. this ignoring the science behind covid was really bad. we do hope the new administration -- biden made a commitmento join t who. that is fantastic. thsooner, e better, you know? that would be great. but also for th u. to join

something like or to avoid -- voice public support for somethinlike this technology access pool that her countries licensingd, to do intellectual property and managing intellectual pperty, you know, your previous question, but also facilitating technology transfer to other companies. so supporting it would be fantastic. for the u.s. and your administration -- would not catch the december meeting that my colleague was talking about, playing aeral, positive role in the who, putting public health before profit. we are not same companies don't make profit. we are not saying that at all. but we are saying public health comes before profit, which is,

by the way, something the wto memberagreed on in doha in 2001. dr.,dr. mohga kamal-yanni thank for being with us people's , vaccine alliance and to unaids. and achal prabhala is coordinator of the accessibsa project co-authored an op-ed , published in "the new york times" titled "want vaccines fast? suspend intellectual property rights" he is speaking to us from bangalore, india. and the doctor from oxford, england. only kind that, why former jurors and even a prosecutor or speaking out against federal exit should of an african-american man brandon bernard scheduled to die thursday on international human rights day. stay with us.

♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. as covid-19 rips across the united states, federal officials now admit that eight members of a 40-person team who traveled from around the country to carry out the federal execution of orlando hall last month contracted the virus, as well as his spiritual advisor. hall was one of eight people president trump has sent to their death far this year after breaking a 17-year hiatus, and in the final weeks of his

administration he plans to execute five more, including tomorrow, international human rights day. are the first executions in a president's lame-duck period since grover cleveland 130 years ago. on thursday, the federal government plans to kill a 40-year-old black man named brandon bernard who was 18 years old when he was allegedly an accomplice to a murder of a young white couple in texas. bernard did not kill either person and says he was a getaway driver during a robbery gone wrong. but during his trial, his attorneys did not make opening statements. and in the penalty stage, they called no witnesses. out of the 12 jurors, all but one was white. now five of the nine surviving jurors have changed their minds and say brandon should not be executed. this is former juror gary mcclung speaking to cbs news reporter david begnog.

>> why did you vote against the -- death penalty that? -- i always struggled i guess. especially that time in my life, standing on my convictions. i regret that now. the death penalty is far too harsh for his level of involvement in this crime. amy: in addition to jurors, the former assistant u.s. attorney who helped secure his death sentence is gone for bernard's execution to be halted. she is angela moore. angela moore wrote in "the indianapolis star" -- "executing brandon would be a terrible stain on the nation's honor." this is angela moore speaking to cbs news. >> legal reasons, aside from my own personal beliefs, is the evidence and what we have found since. mr. bernard did not shoot and

kill the victims in this case. he was not the person who planned this robbery gone wrong. >> why didn't you speak up then? >> first of all, it would not have mattered. the federal government lead prosecutor in her district, y're not allowed to concede air. amy: even a former federal prison warden has said brandon bernard should -- his sentence should be commuted because of his good conduct during his 20 years on death row. that on tuesday, federal judge denied a request to halt bernard's execution. as his options narrow, he was -- his aunt rahsha williams at the federal prison in terre haute, indiana, where he is scheduled to be executed on thursday. over thert is broken thought of my nephew being executed. i went there ready to encourage

.nd and be uplifting to him it was just the opposite. he uplifted us. .e is at peace he has accepted what has happened, but he is hopeful. amy: for more, we go to terre haute, indiana, where brandon -- were every prisoner on death row where they are executed is executed. it is there that bring a scheduled to become the ninth person put to death this year by the trump administration. we're joined by liliana segura, criminal justice reporter for the intercept. her latest piece is headlined "trump prepares to kill brandon bernard even as jurors say his life should be spared." welcome back to democracy now! you've just taken a long turn, driven to terre haute. tell us what we should understand about brandon bernard 's case.

>> thank you for having me, amy. justre right, i did arrived here yesterday. i have done this trip multiple times. i have been here since july when the execution started. before i could to brandon's case specifically, listening to your coverage of this vaccine and this moment as the world sort of is fighting to try to develop and distribute vaccine that will save us from this pandemic, it is a sort of sick irony that i am here to cover a push to execute so many people -- that only the executions themselves, but using lethal injection, which is a perversion of medicine. using drugs developed to heal in order to kill. i want to say that because your previous segment brought that to the forefront, just how perverse this is. you laid out a lot of the problems in brandon bernard's

case. it is rare you have five of the surviving jurors eaking up saying they would like to seek clemency in this case. it is important that eve juror has different reasons, and some have come out in a supportive clemency because of new evidence that they had not been aware of before. that would have changed their decision at the time of the trial. found withary mcclung last month, he revealed to me from the moment the trial happened and from the moment he voted in heor of a death sentence, felt uneasy with that. he did not understand why the two men have been tried together. it was clear to him brandon bernard was not culpable. they were both extremely young. brandon bernard was 18 years old. i think jurors, they are human beings. oftentimes when they vote for death, even at that time, they're not entirely sure about

how right or just these sentences are. aboutcclung also talked some of the things they did not know. it is important to hear brandon bernard's death sentence hinges on evidence that have been called into significant western. there are two very important pieces to that. teenage targed a couple named todd and stacy who are visiting killeen, texas, from iowa. they were you in esther's. teenagers.rgeted by taken -- carjacked, taken to a remote location, forced into their trunk. the teenagers drove around trying to get money from an atm and ultimately christopher shot the couple in the head. when todd and stacy were abducted, brandon bernar was

inside a convenient store playing video games. although he had been involved in the crime and it was his car, one of the guns belonged to him, his role really was incredibly limited up to that point. the reason he got a death sentence ultimately, he went to the scene and according to the prosecutors, was the one who set the car on fire. so they were essentially burning the evidence. the way this was communicated to the jury, jurors were led to believe brandon bernard was stacysible for burning alive because there was evidence was soot found in her air was. prosecutors emphasized this point, that she had been alive most of except she had been shot and it had been shot in the head, no longer conscious. her death was a foregone conclusion. jurors were confused on that point. jurors have since had, if i understood she was not going to

survive, would have voted differently. the other piece of evidence was what angela moore was alluding trial a brought on at prison employee who talked about how gang members essentially posed an immense danger. they can't be securely confined in prison. his testimony made it sound like brandon bernard was going to po a future danger. in 2018 brightness legal team discovered federal prosecutors had access to documents that showed pretty definitively brandon bernard was the lowest in the ranking of gang members, that he was at the very bottom. that brandon bernard was not one of the gang leaders, one of the most mobile members of this group. that evidence was not disclosed to brean's legal team.

to this day, the courts have not allowed for hearing bring the litigation of this particular issue. juan: we only have about two minutes but i want to ask about this issue of brandon bernard's age. angela moore makes the point in her op-ed piece that she did not understand at the time, as the prosecutor, the realities that teenagers -- the teenage boys don't really develop performance of capacities until they are 20 or so. yet he was tried as an adult. could you talk about that issue of what his capacity as an adult was as he was tried? amy: we only have a minute. decision5, a landmark was handed down by the supreme court, basically saying teenagers, those under 18, should not -- cannot be sentenced to death because teenage brain has not yet developed enough to a level where they are as culpable as adults. even the most horrific crimes. that science has continued,

neurological research has shown that development does not stop 18. it goes well into one's 20's. this is an artificia line that has been drawn but the truth is, both christopher and brandon were incredibly young at the time and unlikely to have been sentenced to death if this crime were to take place today. i hope that answers your question. he has grown up on death row. described in positive terms and described christopher vialva that way. in their opinion, neither of them, especially brandon bernard, should not die for this crime he committed, the mistake he made when he was 18. amy: liliana segura, thank you for being with us. we will link to your piece at the intercept "trump prepares to kill brandon bernard even as jurors say his life should be spared." one of four african-american men and a woman who are slated to

die in the lame-duck period of president trump, the first time federal executions performed at this time in 130 years. that does it for our show. a