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Covid-19 vaccine makers have complained about South Africa in a letter to Joe Biden – here’s what it says
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A number of top Covid-19 vaccine makers have sent a letter to US president Joe Biden, warning against efforts to undermine American intellectual property and innovation-dependent manufacturing jobs.
The letter specifically takes aim at South Africa and India’s efforts to suspend Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) at the World Trade Organization.
The letter, which was signed by senior executives at Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and AstraZeneca, was sent by pharmaceutical lobbying group PhRMA.
“Intellectual property protections have been essential not only to speed the research and development of new treatments and vaccines, but also to facilitate sharing of technology and information to scale up vaccine manufacturing to meet global needs.
Updated / Wednesday, 10 Mar 2021
11:17
South Africa is among 100 countries calling on the WTO to introduce waiver to increase vaccine production
The CEO of Oxfam has called for a full waiver of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) on Covid-19 vaccines.
Jim Clarken warned that until the waiver is delivered, there will not be enough supply of Covid-19 vaccines to inoculate the whole world until around 2023 or 2024.
More than 100 countries, led by South Africa and India, will again make the case today at the World Trade Organization for a waiver of TRIPS so that more of the vaccines can be made outside of the companies who developed them.
4:55 a.m. ET, March 10, 2021
Rich nations vaccinating 1 person per second, but most poorer ones haven t given a single shot, watchdog says
From CNN’s Christopher Rios
People queue in vehicles as they arrive for vaccinations at California State University of Los Angeles on March 4. Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images
Rich countries are vaccinating one person every second against Covid-19 while the majority of their poorest counterparts have yet to administer a single dose, the People’s Vaccine Alliance said Tuesday.
These same rich nations are blocking efforts by developing countries to waive intellectual property rights on Covid-19 vaccines, the alliance said. The World Trade Organization’s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) committee meets Wednesday to discuss the TRIPS waiver.