Geneva, Switzerland - Nurses unions around the globe joined forces to demand the UN launch an investigation into potential human rights violations for countries blocking a waiver on coronavirus vaccine patents.

The United States' National Nurses United joined similar groups in 27 other countries in signing the appeal. Together, the unions represent around 2.5 million nurses worldwide.

"Nurses and other health care workers have been on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic response, and we have witnessed the staggering numbers of deaths and the immense suffering caused by political inaction," they wrote in a joint letter to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Physical and Mental Health, Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng.

They are now calling for governments opposing a Covid-19 vaccine patent waiver to be held responsible.

In October 2020, India and South Africa submitted the proposal to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to waive Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) for coronavirus vaccines until the pandemic is under control.

Doing so would help address vaccine distribution disparities around the world and curb the virus' ability to develop new variants, proponents argue. The emergence of Omicron in South Africa has already been at least partly linked to the country's extremely low vaccination rate.

"But instead of supporting this waiver, certain governments are protecting the profits of big pharmaceutical companies at the expense of public health," the nurses' unions said.

Included among the governments standing in the way of the TRIPS waiver are high-income countries in the EU, the UK, Australia, Norway, Switzerland, Japan, and Singapore.

"These countries have violated our rights and the rights of our patients – and caused the loss of countless lives – of nurses and other caregivers and those we have cared for," the letter concluded.