US backs India, S Africa for Covid vax patent waiver
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Washington The Biden administration has backed an initiative by India and South Africa at the WTO to temporarily waive patent rules on Covid-19 vaccines, seen as a breakthrough in the global fight against the deadly pandemic by potentially expanding the supply of the vaccines and more affordable doses for less wealthy nations. Announcing the major policy decision after intense internal debate and strong pushback from American drugmakers, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Wednesday said this is a global health crisis and the extraordinary circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures.
"The (Biden) administration believes strongly in intellectual property protections, but in service of ending this pandemic, supports the waiver of those protections for Covid-19 vaccines," Tai said. The Biden administration's decision will make it easier for the WTO's General Council to approve the proposal. The General Council's meeting is currently underway in Geneva. If approved, the waiver would allow production of vaccines to be ramped up and provide more affordable doses for less wealthy countries.
"We will actively participate in text-based negotiations at the World Trade Organisation needed to make that happen. Those negotiations will take time given the consensus-based nature of the institution and the complexity of the issues involved," Tai said. For the past several weeks, India's Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu, along with the diplomats from South Africa, had been meeting US lawmakers and officials regarding their proposal. "We appreciate the US administration's announcement today of its support for waiver of IPR for Covid-19 vaccines," Sandhu said on Wednesday. The head of the World Health Organisation Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called the move a "monumental moment" in the fight against the pandemic. "This is a monumental moment in the fight against #Covid19," he tweeted, adding that the commitment by President Biden and USTR Tai to support the waiver of IP protections on vaccines is a powerful example of US leadership to address global health challenges.
