The Biden administration has agreed to support lifting intellectual property (IP) restrictions on COVID-19 vaccines at the World Trade Organization, a significant step forward in the global battle against the pandemic that will enable policymakers to address vaccine shortages and inequity.
In a statement issued Wednesday afternoon, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced the administration's stance.
"This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures," Tai 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."
India and South Africa were the leading voices in a collective of around 60 countries seeking for the last six months to get vaccine patents set aside. They were, however, confronted with heavy resistance from the previous US administration of Donald Trump, the U.K. and the EU.
Biden, on the other hand, has taken a different approach. During the 2020 presidential campaign, he advocated for a waiver, which he reiterated Wednesday.
The World Health Organization's director-general hailed the change as a "monumental moment" in the battle against COVID-19.
However, pharmaceutical companies have expressed their opposition, claiming that patents are not the primary impediment and warned that the move could stifle innovation.
Drugmakers, including Pfizer and Moderna, are opposed to the waiver, claiming that softening patent laws would create a bottleneck for limited vaccine ingredients and impede response to new variants. They also warn that waivers could provide China and Russia with access to trade secrets as well as additional ammunition for their aggressive global vaccine diplomacy.
The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations called the move "disappointing".
"A waiver is the simple but the wrong answer to what is a complex problem," the Geneva-based lobby group said.
Another strong opponent is Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, whose Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-funded Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which is the driving force behind COVAX, the UN mechanism to increase vaccine access in low- and middle-income countries.
Despite more than two decades of philanthropic work to immunize the world's needy, Gates is a staunch supporter of intellectual property rights.
A review of country statistics reveals that 1.2 billion vaccine doses have been administered globally, equating to 16 doses for every 100 people, but there is a significant difference in vaccination rates between countries. Some countries have vaccinated more than half of their citizens, while others have yet to record a single dose.
