A Covid-vaccine patent waiver has been agreed upon by the United States, the European Union, India and South Africa in a new World Trade Organization (WTO) "outcome document".
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For over a year and a half, activists, drug groups, and representatives from countries around the world have been battling over the patents for Covid-19 vaccines. At present, countries must pay a licence fee to Pfizer, Moderna and other pharmaceutical companies – which increases the prices of vaccines, and acts as a major hurdle to expanding rollouts, especially in poorer countries.
Now, a document has been agreed upon by the European Union, India, South Africa and the United States, in a move to waive the patents.
The new agreement document lays out plans to authorise the use of patented subject matter without the right holder's consent. It awaits the approval of the rest of the World Trade Organization’s 164 members.
Read more: EU and India join forces to make Trade Technology Council
In the past, the WTO, which deals with global trade rules, has laid out important policies, such as providing agricultural subsidies, but this is arguably its most important policy proposal yet. It has far-reaching consequences: 32.9% of the world’s population is still unvaccinated – that’s approximately 2.3 billion people.
There are massive variations in vaccine rollouts around the world. The population of rich countries such as South Korea, Australia, Canada and Portugal are as much as 80% vaccinated, while for Madagascar, Nigeria and Syria, this figure stands at less than 10%.
WTO director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has made vaccine equity her top priority over the last 18 months. At the virtual White House Global Covid-19 Summit in September, she said: “We have a choice. Either we converge downwards by allowing the virus to drag us all back down, or we converge upwards by vaccinating the world.”
The Multilateral Leaders Task Force on Covid-19 – a joint initiative from the International Monetary Fund, World Bank Group, World Health Organization, and World Trade Organization – has also been trying to accelerate access to Covid-19 vaccines, particularly for low- and middle-income countries.
Part of its goal is to remove all barriers to supply chain operations, as well as barriers to the export of ingredients and finished vaccines.
In February, the EU was accused of putting profit before people, when major disagreements arose at the sixth European Union-African Union Summit in Brussels, over Europe’s refusal to waive the patents on Covid vaccines.
Read more: EU accused of putting profit before people in Covid vaccine row
In a July 2021 report by the People’s Vaccine Alliance, a group of 90 organisations and networks, “supported by Nobel Laureates, health experts, economists, Heads of States, faith leaders” that campaigns to get the vaccine made free, said that Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna are charging as much as $41 billion (€38.58 billion) above the estimated cost of production.
Even with a licence, the costs of the vaccines vary hugely throughout the world. For example, figures from March 2021 showed that the Pfizer jab cost £22 per dose in Israel, while it cost £15 in the UK. Similarly, Moderna cost £10.86 in the US and between £24 and £28 in the UK.
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