Global vaccine inequality runs deep. Some countries say intellectual property rights are part of the problem. - Washington Post

On one side are the United States and other mainly wealthy Western democracies, where the major pharmaceutical companies developing key vaccines and related medical technologies are based.

Given the gravity of the global public health crisis, the latter camp wants to resort to an emergency waiver mechanism, whereby the intellectual property rights for making vaccines and related medical supplies would be temporarily suspended, which in theory would lead to production and distribution ramping up more equitably in factories worldwide.

It’s a hyper-technical issue — turning on interpretation of TRIPS, the WTO’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights — and it’s heavy in symbolism for developing countries increasingly alarmed by a race to vaccinate that is stacked against them.

In the immediate term, waiving intellectual property rights alone cannot fix the problem of vaccine inequities and shortages.

Moderna agreed to ‘equitable access’ for its coronavirus vaccine, but most of its doses are going to wealthy countries.

The amendments specified that countries could seek compulsory licensing — a way for a government to waive intellectual property rights without the patent owner’s consent — in cases of national or other extreme emergencies.

The WTO’s action set a precedent, said Yuan Qiong Hu, legal adviser for the Doctors Without Borders Access Campaign, which is advocating for the WTO coronavirus waiver.

That’s also why Mustaqeem De Gama, an intellectual property expert and South Africa’s WTO representative, said it’s time for the global trade agency to act to ensure that “inappropriate use of intellectual property” doesn’t lead to “an artificial scarcity of supply.”.

TRIPS, he said, recognizes that every country has the right “to ensure that its citizens have access to necessary medicines, equipment and technology that will address covid-19.” He said a WTO waiver would reinforce that principle and allow countries to prepare to kick-start their own production rather than having to wait until richer countries fill their vaccine orders first.

But De Gama said that fact alone presents an incomplete picture of the pandemic’s impact on people in countries without adequate medical resources or government relief during the pandemic.

Fidler, however, disagreed that intellectual property rights represent an immediate impediment to vaccine access

But he said the WTO impasse remains worrying because it could push developing countries closer to the brink while further eroding U.S