In case this is the first you’re hearing of this (like me, who is disappointed but not surprised), here are some links to news articles about it and a petition you can sign to ask the World Trade Organisation to make COVID-19 vaccines a common global good.
Here’s an article from Reuters. From the article:
World Trade Organization members on Thursday delayed a decision on a proposal to waive intellectual property rules for COVID-19 drugs and vaccines amid ongoing opposition from wealthy countries, a Geneva trade official said.
“Big Pharma” has rejected an idea proposed by India and South Africa that would grant compulsory licensing of the vaccines and drugs by overriding patent rules of WTO’s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) agreement, allowing generic or other manufactures to make the new products.
The proposal has won support from some countries at the WTO but is opposed by Western countries, including Britain, Switzerland and the United States, which have strong domestic pharmaceutical industries.
Non-governmental organisations have been pressuring rich governments to ease rules temporarily as they did during the AIDS epidemic, arguing that they create barriers to access to affordable medicines and vaccines for vulnerable people around the world. This week, the WTO received a petition signed by more than 900,000 people asking it to “ensure access to life-saving COVID-19 vaccines, treatments and equipment for everyone in the world.”
‘Thursday’ in the above article refers to 10th December 2020. From Bloomberg on 17th December:
Back at the WTO, delegates have agreed to keep discussions open and were due to submit a report to the WTO’s General Council meeting on Dec. 16, highlighting the “current lack of consensus” on the issue, according to a statement from the organization.
The WTO has still not decided on this. They will continue the discussion in early 2021 (WTO tweet and website). The global petition referred to in the article is still taking signatures.
Here’s the petition on Avaaz.org, currently at 922,600 signatures.
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