US Finally Supports Ending Patent, It'll Make Vaccines Cheaper & Available In Poor Countries

The Biden administration on Wednesday said it would support waiving patents on Covid-19 vaccines. The statement has important implications because doing away with intellectual property rights will pave the way for cheaper versions of the vaccine to enter the market and also scale up production. It will also help speed the end of the pandemic, a shift that puts the U.S. alongside many in the developing world who want rich countries to do more to get doses to the needy.

AP

What has the US said?

While signaling its intention to do away with patents, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai in a statement said, ¡°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¡­The Administration¡¯s aim is to get as many safe and effective vaccines to as many people as fast as possible.¡±

AP

The statement also mentioned that in view of the global health crisis now, ¡°extraordinary circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures¡±.

Biden had been under intense pressure to waive protections for vaccine manufacturers, especially amid criticism that rich nations were hoarding shots. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization (WHO), called the US decision "historic" and said it marked "a monumental moment in the fight against COVID-19."

Why is waiving patents important?

At present, only drug companies which own patents are authorised to manufacture Covid vaccines. A lifting of patent will allow the recipes to be shared and there will no longer be an embargo ¡ª basically once the formula is shared, any company which possesses the required technology and infrastructure can produce vaccines. This will lead to cheaper and more generic versions of Covid vaccines. It will also mean two things ¡ª vaccines will be more affordable and this will be a big step in overcoming vaccine shortage.

BCCL

The WTO¡¯s General Council took up the issue of a temporary waiver for intellectual property protections on COVID-19 vaccines and other tools, which South Africa and India first proposed in October. The idea had gained support among some progressive lawmakers in the West. More than 100 countries had come out in support of the proposal, and a group of 110 members of Congress ¡ª all fellow Democrats of Biden ¡ª sent him a letter last month that called on him to support the waiver.

Reuters

What will it mean for India, others?

If patents are ultimately waived, it will definitely be a shot in the arm to increase the scale and speed of vaccine rollout across the world. For India, which has had the bulk of the vaccine doses it is producing being taken up by foreign countries which could pay more for the doses, this move can help scale up production to meet demand besides making the vaccines more affordable for everyone.