Health Advocates say that the negotiations at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on intellectual property on COVID-19 vaccines and products must be transparent.
South Africa and India have led the proposal to initiate a waiver on patents. This will allow for mass manufacturing and technology sharing.
On Wednesday, the US announced their support of the waiver proposal.
These extraordinary times and circumstances of call for extraordinary measures.
The US supports the waiver of IP protections on COVID-19 vaccines to help end the pandemic and we’ll actively participate in @WTO negotiations to make that happen. pic.twitter.com/96ERlboZS8
— Ambassador Katherine Tai (@AmbassadorTai) May 5, 2021
More than a hundred countries are backing South Africa and India.
Doctors Without Borders held a webinar discussing what needs to happen to see the waiver approved by the WTO’s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) council.
With the text-based negotiations on the agreement on TRIPS set to begin soon, advocacy groups and civil society are concerned.
The Health Justice Initiative says the talks and texts should not be delayed for months, and the negotiations must be available for the public to follow.
Doctors Without Borders says South Africa and India have already worked on a revision text.
However, there are rumours that the United States is working on a text following their announcement supporting the waiver proposal.
With the current approval systems, there’s a lot of pressure on text-based negotiations.
Policy coordinator of Doctors Without Borders, Yuan Qiong Hu says, “The surging numbers in COVID-19 infections in India is a good example of why this waiver approval is important.”
Advocacy groups believe if everyone is to be allowed access to vital medication beyond COVID-19 drugs, there needs to be proper and healthy competition in the pharmaceutical industry.
WTO Chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has urged the proponents of the proposed waiver to submit the revised document “as soon as possible” so that text-based negotiations can begin.
US backs COVID-19 vaccine patent waiver plan proposed by India, South Africa:
