Friday, 07 May 2021 09:41 AM MYT
Waiving patent protections for Covid-19 vaccines is fiercely opposed by Big Pharma because they say it would set a precedent that could threaten future innovations. Reuters pic
Subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates on news you need to know.
NEW YORK, May 7 Waiving patent protections for Covid-19 vaccines is fiercely opposed by Big Pharma because they say it would set a precedent that could threaten future innovations, and insist the move would not speed up production.
Here are some of the consequences waiving the patent protection on novel coronavirus vaccines could have.
No immediate impact
May 07, 2021
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc would discuss “any proposal that would tackle the crisis in an effective and pragmatic way”.
BRUSSELS Several European Union leaders praised the US call to remove patent protections on COVID-19 vaccines to help poor countries obtain shots. But the proposal faced resistance, notably from Germany.
The EU is “ready to discuss” lifting intellectual property protections on COVID-19 vaccines, Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday.
More than 100 countries have been pushing for the IP rights on coronavirus vaccines and treatments to be waived in order to speed up the production of jabs.
India reports almost 4,000 daily COVID-19 deaths as the country faces severe vaccine shortages
The current surge in COVID-19 infections throughout India has no precedent in the entire course of the COVID-19 pandemic. A new record of daily cases was set just yesterday when the toll reached an astronomical high of 412,618, accounting for nearly half of the 850,000 global cases reported.
A worker sprinkles fuel on burning funeral pyres of COVID-19 victims at an open crematorium set up at a granite quarry on the outskirts of Bengaluru, India, Wednesday, May 5, 2021. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)
The number of deaths in India from the coronavirus was also the highest ever reported for the country, reaching 3,980. By every account, these numbers are vastly understated, given India’s archaic and dysfunctional official registry for documenting mortality.
Vexed over vaccines dhakacourier.com.bd - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dhakacourier.com.bd Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog:
Yesterday, United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced the Biden-Harris Administration s support for waiving intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines (see Biden Administration Supports Waiver of IP Protection for COVID-19 Vaccines ). The waiver was proposed last fall by India and South Africa, which asked the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to recommend a waiver from the implementation, application and enforcement of Sections 1, 4, 5, and 7 of Part II of the TRIPS Agreement in relation to prevention, containment or treatment of COVID-19 to the General Council of the WTO. In March, the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), a group of fifteen industry and trade organizations (including BIO), and a group of intellectual property organizations (including the IPO), sent letters to the Biden Administratio