Zim joins India, SA in trade waiver efforts
Elita Chikwati Senior Reporter
Zimbabwe has joined South Africa, India and other countries in sponsoring the proposed waiver from certain provisions of the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement for the Prevention, Containment and Treatment of Covid-19.
The waiver is aimed at fast-tracking local production to ensure equitable distribution and easy accessibility of vaccine and other medicines as efforts to curb the Covid-19 virus intensify.
The TRIPS waiver will ensure World Trade Organisation (WTO) members and in particular developing countries are able to promptly respond to the Covid-19 pandemic by ensuring that intellectual property (IP) rights do not impede access to diagnostics, medicines, vaccines and other medical technologies required to contain Covid-19.
As things stand, even the most optimistic scenarios today cannot assure access to vaccines and therapeutics for the majority of the population, in rich and poor countries, by the end of 2021.
Countries push for IP waivers on Covid-19 vaccine access
Wednesday January 20 2021
A number of African countries including Kenya, South Africa, and Morocco, have made orders for Covid-19 vaccine. PHOTO | AFP
Summary
As the next WTO negotiations take place on January 21, WHO’s director of immunisation, vaccines and biologicals, Kate O’Brien, has warned that more funds are required to enable 92 of the world’s poorest nations gain access to the vaccine.
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As African states place orders for Covid-19 vaccines, a coalition of countries is proposing for an IP waiver for accessing Covid-19 vaccines at the World Trade Organisation negotiations.
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