US backs patent waivers for Covid-19 vaccine but faces opposition at WTO

The US has backed the request by India and South Africa to the World Trade Organization WTO to waive Intellectual Property rights for Covid19 vaccines but it has been met with oppostion from some members of the bodyUS Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced the decision on Wednesday saying that President Joe Bidens administration believes strongly in intellectual property protections but in service of ending this pandemic supports the waiver of those protections for Covid19 vaccinesBut the longawaited decision will not result in an immediate waiver as a consensus will be needed at the WTO and in the meanwhile the Biden administration will work to increase the raw materials supply for making the vaccines she saidWe will actively participate in textbased negotiations at the WTO needed to make that happen Those negotiations will take time given the consensusbased nature of the institution and the complexity of the issues involved Tai saidSpeaking in Geneva at the start of the General Council meeting on Wednesday WTO DirectorGeneral Ngozi OkonjoIweala said We need to have a sense of urgency on how we approach this issue of response to Covid19 because the world is watchingAt the meeting several countries voiced opposition to the waivers while many also supported it according to a news release from the organisationLast October India and South Africa made the proposal for the waiver officially known as the Temporary TradeRelated Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights TRIPS for materials needed to fight the pandemic until widespread vaccination is in place globally and the majority of the worlds population has developed immunitySince then 60 WTO members including Pakistan have cosponsored itOkonjoIweala said that she welcomed a recent move by the sponsors to submit a revised proposalI am firmly convinced that once we can sit down with an actual text in front of us we shall find a pragmatic way forward acceptable to all sides that allow the kinds of answers that our developing country members are looking at with respect to vaccines whilst at the same time looking at research and innovation and how to protect them she saidA WTO statement said that over 40 delegations spoke at the General Council session on Wednesday and supporters of the proposal were of the view that the current challenges posed by the pandemic can only be effectively addressed by waiving certain TRIPS obligations Other delegations remained unconvinced about the necessity for a waiver at the international level with some members arguing that a waiver might undermine ongoing collaborative effortsMany industrialised European countries including the UK and Switzerland and some major pharmaceutical companies oppose the waiver seeing it as opening the doors to a broader weakening of intellectual property rights that could affect future innovationIn her statement on backing the patent waiver Tai said that while the negotiations take their time the aim is to get as many safe and effective vaccines to as many people as fast as possibleAs our vaccine supply for the American people is secured the administration will continue to ramp up its efforts a working with the private sector and all possible partners to expand vaccine manufacturing and distribution It will also work to increase the raw materials needed to produce those vaccines she addedIndianAmerican House of Representatives member Ro Khanna welcomed the Biden administrations decision tweeting Thank you POTUS for putting life amp dignity over very powerful interestsThe administration had to work its way around opposing forces to arrive at the decision on waiversA group of Democrats led by the progressive Senator Bernie Sanders urged Biden to prioritise people over pharmaceutical company profits and support the waiverMany domestic and international organisations like Doctors Without Borders and the Union of Concerned Scientists have also asked for the waiver on humanitarian groundsBut a group of 12 Republican members of Congress wrote to Biden on Wednesday opposing the waiver asserting that it would harm American innovation technological leadership and economic competitivenessThe International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers IFPTE that belongs to the powerful trade union backing Biden American Federation of LabourCongress of Industrial Organisations AFLCIO has also come out against the waiverIFPTE President Paul Shearon wrote to Tais staff that the US should manufacture vaccines domestically to create jobs and preserve its lead in the technologyHe also raised doubts about the ability of other countries to make the vaccinesHe wrote that letting firsttime producers recreate the industrial capacity and knowhow needed to ramp up a complex industrial process to global scale may not workBill Gates the philanthropist who heads a foundation that works on global issues has also opposed the waiver echoing a similar view questioning the ability of developing countries to maintain quality standardsBut Khanna said in his tweet Lets be clear this debate was never about quality control over manufacturing vaccines It was about money andgreed I was trolled repeatedly by people in my own party for calling on Biden to waive thisBidens spokesperson Jen Psaki posited a defence of the support for the waiver before it was announced when she responded at her briefing to a question about the objectionsWe take intellectual property incredibly seriously And we also though are in the midst of a historic global pandemic which requires a range of creative solutions And were looking at it through that prismThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever