As the world continues to contend with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the most important ways that the virus is being combatted is through COVAX, the global mechanism for equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines jointly led by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Coalition for Epidemic…
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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
jgomez@bio.org
Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath, president and CEO of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), sent a letter to President Joe Biden yesterday suggesting the establishment of a COVID Global Strategy for Harnessing Access Reaching Everyone (SHARE) Program, to be implemented immediately.
The letter, which is chalked full of policy solutions, is a response to the “worsening COVID crises in India, Brazil and elsewhere.”
The Global SHARE Program would consist of three parts:
1) Ensuring sufficient global supply of vaccines;
2) Ensuring safe and expeditious global access to vaccines and therapeutics; and
3) Ongoing Efforts to strengthen and support healthcare systems in low-and middle-income countries in addressing COVID.