Reuters lead with breaking news of great significance on March 16, 2022. It says U.S., EU, India and South Africa are making progress on waivers for COVID-19 vaccine patents. They have produced a draft text on key elements of intellectual property disclaimers. However, all 164 World Trade Organization (WTO) members must agree before their proposal moves forward.
Good Progress towards Waivers for COVID-19 Vaccines
The four participating WTO members have provisionally agreed to recommend the following:
1… Free use of vaccine patent subject matter without holder consent, but only to the extent necessary to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
2… This intellectual property waiver would also apply to ingredients and processes necessary for COVID-19 vaccine manufacture.
3… However, this relaxation would only apply to WTO member countries exporting less than 10% of COVID-19 vaccine doses in 2021.
4…But patent holder waivers would not apply to COVID-19 treatments or tests. Finally, these relaxations will only apply temporarily while the waiver lasts.
A Promising Path Towards Exit From the Pandemic
A difficult and protracted procedure has resulted in some progress on waivers for COVID-19 vaccine patents at last. The hope is developing nations will be able to manufacturer own vaccines at lower prices that currently prevail. However, this progress only happened after U.S., EU, India and South Africa broke away from the main WTO debate.
That parent organization follows a path of mandatory consensus. Therefore Reuters says there is no guarantee of formal adoption of these tentative proposals. India and South Africa have been pressing for a waiver since 2020. But so far strong opposition from nations with large pharmaceutical sectors has prevailed.
A spokesperson for pharmaceutical industry trade group PhRMA spoke out strongly against the U.S., EU, India and South Africa draft proposal. They told Reuters ‘voluntary technology transfer and partnerships have helped vaccine makers target production of … more than enough vaccine for the world.’
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