COVID-19: MSF Welcomes US Support for Vaccine IP Waiver, Calls to Donate Surplus Stock to COVAX

The US administration under President Joe Biden has announced that it will support India and South Africa's proposal before the World Trade Organisation to temporarily waive patents for COVID-19 supply in order to boost supply at a time when India is battling an increasingly dangerous second wave of the pandemic. However, there have been calls for the country to donate its surplus vaccine stock and that other countries opposed to the move at the WTO rethink their stand.

US Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Wednesday said this was a global health crisis and that the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic called for extraordinary measures.

"The (Biden) administration believes strongly in intellectual property protections, but in service of ending this pandemic, supports the waiver of those protections for COVID-19 vaccines,” Tai said.

The Biden administration's decision will make it easier for the WTO's General Council to approve the proposal.

The Biden administration's decision will make it easier for the WTO's General Council to approve the proposal.

"We will actively participate in text-based negotiations at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) needed to make that happen. Those negotiations will take time given the consensus-based nature of the institution and the complexity of the issues involved," Tai said.

"The administration's aim is to get as many safe and effective vaccines to as many people as fast as possible. As our vaccine supply for the American people is secured, the administration will continue to ramp up its efforts – working with the private sector and all possible partners – to expand vaccine manufacturing and distribution. It will also work to increase the raw materials needed to produce those vaccines," she added.

The international medical humanitarian NGO Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontierès (MSF) applauded the US' move to get behind a waiver of IP protections for the vaccine, mentioning that it would enable "sufficient and timely access to these lifesaving medical tools".

MSFsaid that many of the low-income countries had received about 0.3 per cent of their vaccine supply while the US had close to half billion vaccines it did not need. "Shortages of diagnostics, treatments, and other lifesaving medical tools continue to add pressure to countries such as India and Brazil where the surging of cases has pushed health systems to the brink of collapse," it added.

"This could provide countries with new options to address the limitations of existing WTO rules and remove legal uncertainties and barriers that may impede production and supply of COVID-19 medical products in advance. Throughout the seven months of negotiations at the WTO, MSF has been calling for the waiving of IP for all COVID-19 products, including vaccines, treatments, and diagnostics," the MSF statement said.

Avril Benoît, executive director of MSF-USA, said that it was a time of "unprecedented global need. It is crucial that this waiver not just apply to preventative vaccines, but it should also cover other medical tools for COVID-19, including treatments for people who fall ill and diagnostics to help curb the spread, as originally proposed seven months ago."

He said that the "monumental decision" will help address the challenges faced by countries around the world and "increase equitable access to lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines worldwide", mentioning that the more time it took for everyone to get vaccinated, the more chances there were of new coronavirus variants taking hold.

However, he also implored the US to share its surplus vaccine doses with COVAX – WHO-GAVI-CEPI’s platform – mentioning that while manufacturers will get the information they need from global pharma companies, "this won't happen immediately".

“If the US truly wants to end this pandemic, it must also share its surplus vaccines doses with COVAX now and fill the access gap until additional manufacturers are able to scale up production. The US must also demand that pharma companies that received significant amounts of US taxpayer funding to create these vaccines share the technology and know-how with other capable manufacturers to protect more people worldwide," Benoit said.

He added that other countries which still oppose the WTO waiver, including those from the European Union and the likes of Canada, Australia, Norway, Japan, and Brazil should "take action, too, and decide to put people’s health before pharmaceutical profits and waive IP on all COVID-19 medical tools, including vaccines.”

According to the Union Health Ministry's data on Thursday morning, new COVID-19 cases and deaths in India hit a record daily high with 4,12,262 new infections and 3,980 fatalities being reported, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 2,10,77,410 and the death toll to 2,30,168.

With PTI Inputs