The United States government has decided to support the controversial proposal to temporarily waive intellectual property rights for existing vaccines, to increase the global supply of doses that are required to boost the ongoing vaccination campaigns in many countries. The United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai has announced the government’s decision during World Trade Organization’s talks about allowing more manufacturers to produce more life-saving vaccine doses.
Katherine Tai said statement that the administration believes strongly in intellectual property protection, but in service of ending the pandemic, the government supports waiver of those rights for COVID-19 vaccines. She has also mentioned that it needs some time to reach the necessary global consensus to waive the intellectual property right under WTO rules. Hence, it will not have any immediate impact on the supply of COVID-19 vaccines. The announcement from the US government came few hours after WTO Director-General Ngozi Oknjo-Iweala spoke to a closed-door meeting of representatives of many developed and developing nations, that have been wrangling over the issue, but agreed on the requirement of wider access to COVID-19 treatments.
India was the first country to propose the plan of temporary waiver for intellectual property protection on COVID-19 vaccines and other tools. In October last year, South Africa also took up the same issue and WTO’s general council along with many progressive lawmakers in the western region who also backed the proposal. More than 100 countries have come out in support of the proposal, and a group of 110 members of Congress, a fellow of Democrats of Joe Biden sent him a letter in April, that called him to support the waiver. On the other side, the opponent party in the US, especially those who are closely working with the pharmaceutical industry, say a waiver will not help increase the production of vaccines. According to them, the production of the coronavirus vaccine is a very complex process and the total production can’t be ramped up by simply easing the laws. Stephen Ubl, CEO, and president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America said the decision taken by the US administration will hamper future innovation and it will increase confusion between public and private partners in the industry. He has also mentioned the possibility of proliferation of counterfeit vaccines and further weakening of the supply chain, which has been already strained in the last few months.
Dr. Michelle McMurry health chief executive of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization trade group, said the decision of the US government will undermine the incentive to produce vaccine doses and treatment for future pandemics. Pfizer and many other pharmaceutical companies have declined to comment on Biden’s decision. Many companies have made some efforts to provide doses to some developing nations at prices well below what they have charged to the developed nations. The argument about lifting patent rights, copyrights, and protection for industrial designs to help expand production and supply during shortages, was a part of a long-running debate and the US finally backed the proposal to beat down the pandemic.