Covid 19 coronavirus: Helen Clark - rapid action needed to stop this pandemic and avert the next
12 May, 2021 10:00 AM
5 minutes to read
A health worker administers the Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine to a resident of the Klong Toey area of Bangkok in Thailand, a neighbourhood which has seen a spike in coronavirus cases. Photo / AP
A health worker administers the Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine to a resident of the Klong Toey area of Bangkok in Thailand, a neighbourhood which has seen a spike in coronavirus cases. Photo / AP
NZ Herald
OPINION: By Helen Clark, review co-chair
In July last year, the Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) asked the former President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and me to be the co-chairs of a review of the international health response to Covid-19.
Sharing the know-how behind making COVID-19 vaccines is key to scaling up production and addressing emerging variants.
A Q&A With Anthony D. So, MD, MPA | MAY 10, 2020
The Biden administration announced it would seek a “TRIPS waiver” of intellectual property protections related to COVID vaccines.
In this Q&A, Anthony D. So, MD, MPA, a professor of the practice in International Health, explains the waiver and what it could mean for COVID-19 vaccines.
What’s the TRIPS waiver for COVID vaccines all about?
The TRIPS waiver refers to a proposal, advanced by the governments of South Africa and India, to the World Trade Organization to waive intellectual property rights protection for technologies needed to prevent, contain, or treat COVID-19 “until widespread vaccination is in place globally, and the majority of the world’s population has developed immunity.”
WHO strongly supports TRIPS waiver, not time to worry about patents, profits: Chief Scientist Swaminathan ANI | Updated: May 11, 2021 05:00 IST
By Reena Bhardwaj
Geneva [Switzerland], May 11 (ANI): World Health Organisation (WHO) Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan on Monday (local time) said that the global health body strongly believes that Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waiver to COVID-19 vaccines at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) should be done.
In an exclusive interview with ANI, Swaminathan said: WHO strongly believes that the TRIPS waiver that has been proposed by India and South Africa should be done. DG Tedros has often spoken about this. This is not the time to worry about patents and profits amid the pandemic.
Benefitting China and harming America. Tue May 11, 2021 President Biden has taken his radical agenda to a whole new level by supporting a proposal to suspend the World Trade Organization’s protections for pharmaceutical companies’ coronavirus vaccine intellectual property, including specifically patents. Biden caved to pressure from developing countries and congressional Democrats in endorsing what would amount to one of the most significant expropriations of private property in American history. “The administration believes strongly in intellectual property protections, but in service of ending this pandemic, supports the waiver of those protections for Covid-19 vaccines,” declared Katherine Tai, the United States trade representative, in announcing the Biden administration’s decision.
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US support for waiving COVID-19 vaccine patent rights puts pressure on drugmakers - but what would a waiver actually look like?
Dalindyebo Shabalala, University of Dayton
May 10, 2021
FacebookTwitterEmail Dalindyebo Shabalala, University of Dayton
(THE CONVERSATION) The U.S. and Europe are debating waiving patent rights for COVID-19 vaccines, a move that could allow more companies to produce the vaccine around the world. But it’s not as simple as it might sound.
When the U.S. announced on May 5, 2021, that it supported the idea of a temporary waiver, the statement was vague. Some European countries still oppose even a narrow waiver.