Removing intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines: Opportunity to disseminate cheap vaccines

The Guardian newspaper revealed details of an interim agreement reached between the US, the European Union, India and South Africa. Accordingly, the parties agreed on a stance to remove deadlocks related to the abolition vaccine copyright prevention of COVID-19, the proposal was submitted to the World Trade Organization 18 months ago.

This is a big step forward in efforts to end the deadlock at the global trade body. This compromise was the result of many hours of lengthy and difficult negotiations. More work remains to be done to ensure that the agreement enjoys the support of all members, the WTO said.

If approved by all WTO members, countries could allow domestic manufacturers to manufacture vaccines without the consent of the patent holders. The new deal covers only dismantling vaccine patent COVID-19 prevention is fundamentally different from the original proposal put forward by India and South Africa, with the goal of abolishing intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines, treatments or diagnostics. diagnose COVID-19.

The United States, European Union, India and South Africa are close to an agreement to remove intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines. (Photo: Reuters)

The decision also only applies to countries that are members of the World Trade Organization, with exports of less than 10% of the world’s vaccine exports in 2021 as well as meeting the requirements for ingredients and processes. needed for vaccine production. In addition, the agreement also does not cover technology transfer and trade secrets.

Since October 2020, South Africa and India have called for the temporary lifting of intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic to boost production. However, this idea has met with fierce opposition from pharmaceutical companies and many host countries. They argue that patents are not the main barrier to scaling production and warn the move could stifle innovation.

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