Covid-19: Germany Rejects US-Backed Proposal To Waive Vaccine Patents

The US and Germany are at odds on the issue of waivers for
patents on Covid-19 vaccines, as Berlin argued that a waiver would
not increase production and would inhibit future private sector
research.

The disagreement is the first major rift between the two
economic powers since Joe Biden took office, and threatens to
deadlock discussions at the World Trade Organization (WTO) and sour
relations within the G7 group of major industrialised
democracies.

Any WTO decision on a waiver would have to be by consensus, so
Germany opposition is a major obstacle to intellectual property
rights on vaccines being suspended.

The Biden government’s announcement on Wednesday that it would
back a waiver on vaccine patents was welcomed by the World Health
Organization (WHO) as a step towards greater global equity at a
time when poor countries have little access to vaccines and south
Asia has been hit by a devastating outbreak. India accounted for
46% of the new Covid-19 cases recorded around the world over the
past week, and there are signs the wave is spreading to Nepal, Sri
Lanka and other neighbouring states.

But Angela Merkel’s government came out against a waiver on
Thursday.

“The US suggestion for the lifting of patent protection for
Covid-19 vaccines has significant implications for vaccine
production as a whole,” a government spokeswoman said.

“The limiting factors in the production of vaccines are the
production capacities and the high-quality standards and not
patents,” she added, arguing that the companies were already
working with partners to boost manufacturing capacity.

“The protection of intellectual property is a source of
innovation and must remain so in the future.”

The US secretary of state, Tony Blinken, said the patent waiver
was just one of a variety of means the administration was looking
at to intensify the struggle to contain the pandemic.

“The main thing is we have to speed this up,” Blinken told MSNBC
during a visit to Ukraine. “On the current trajectory, if we don’t
do more, if the entire world doesn’t do more, the world won’t be
vaccinated until 2024. We can speed this up and get that done, I
think, in a much shorter time. And if we do, we’re all going to be
better off.”

Pharmaceutical companies reacted with anger to the US decision,
and shares in Chinese and American vaccine manufacturers tumbled.
Some countries also expressed private astonishment, with one
diplomat accusing the US of grandstanding by offering
crowd-pleasing simplistic solutions to long-term problems.

In normal times, patents preserve the profits of the
multinational companies that make drugs and vaccines, making it
illegal for rivals to turn out cheap copycat versions for up to 20
years. But amid a pandemic in which the WHO says no one is safe
until everyone is safe, campaigners say there is a powerful moral
case for ditching them.

The Biden announcement on waivers has divided the European
Union. Emmanuel Macron said he was “absolutely in favour” of the
move, in marked a shift for France, which had previously argued
that a patent waiver would discourage innovation.

The head of the European commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said
the bloc was open to debate. She pointed out that the EU’s
vaccination effort was accelerating, with 30 Europeans vaccinated
each second, while exporting more than 200m doses. Von der Leyen
said Europe was “also ready to discuss any proposals that address
the crisis in an effective and pragmatic manner”.

“That’s why we are ready to discuss how the US proposal for a
waiver on intellectual property protections for Covid-19 vaccines
could help achieve that objective,” she said.

The head of the panel reviewing the WHO’s handling of the
pandemic, Helen Clark, the former New Zealand prime minister,
earlier called on countries that have obstructed the temporary
suspension of intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines,
such as the UK, Switzerland and EU states, to follow the US lead
and back the initiative.

She described the Biden administration’s announcement as a
game-changer and said pharmaceutical companies that had received
billions in public money now needed to spread knowledge to scale up
vaccine production.

“When the US moves it is such a powerful signal,” Clark told the
BBC. “One would expect the UK, the EU and Switzerland and others
that have been obstructing the discussion on the waiver need to
say: ‘Yes, we are prepared to negotiate.’”

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex entered the debate on Thursday,
calling on Covid vaccine manufacturers to act with “responsibility
and leadership” and increase their allocation of doses distributed
to poorer parts of the world.

Harry and Meghan have written an open letter to the chief
executives of pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer, Moderna and
AstraZeneca urging them to redouble their support for the
UN-sponsored Covax programme.

Culled from theguardian.com

The US and Germany are at odds on the issue of waivers for
patents on Covid-19 vaccines, as Berlin argued that a waiver would
not increase production and would inhibit future private sector
research.

The disagreement is the first major rift between the two
economic powers since Joe Biden took office, and threatens to
deadlock discussions at the World Trade Organization (WTO) and sour
relations within the G7 group of major industrialised
democracies.

Any WTO decision on a waiver would have to be by consensus, so
Germany opposition is a major obstacle to intellectual property
rights on vaccines being suspended.

The Biden government’s announcement on Wednesday that it would
back a waiver on vaccine patents was welcomed by the World Health
Organization (WHO) as a step towards greater global equity at a
time when poor countries have little access to vaccines and south
Asia has been hit by a devastating outbreak. India accounted for
46% of the new Covid-19 cases recorded around the world over the
past week, and there are signs the wave is spreading to Nepal, Sri
Lanka and other neighbouring states.

But Angela Merkel’s government came out against a waiver on
Thursday.

“The US suggestion for the lifting of patent protection for
Covid-19 vaccines has significant implications for vaccine
production as a whole,” a government spokeswoman said.

“The limiting factors in the production of vaccines are the
production capacities and the high-quality standards and not
patents,” she added, arguing that the companies were already
working with partners to boost manufacturing capacity.

“The protection of intellectual property is a source of
innovation and must remain so in the future.”

The US secretary of state, Tony Blinken, said the patent waiver
was just one of a variety of means the administration was looking
at to intensify the struggle to contain the pandemic.

“The main thing is we have to speed this up,” Blinken told MSNBC
during a visit to Ukraine. “On the current trajectory, if we don’t
do more, if the entire world doesn’t do more, the world won’t be
vaccinated until 2024. We can speed this up and get that done, I
think, in a much shorter time. And if we do, we’re all going to be
better off.”

Pharmaceutical companies reacted with anger to the US decision,
and shares in Chinese and American vaccine manufacturers tumbled.
Some countries also expressed private astonishment, with one
diplomat accusing the US of grandstanding by offering
crowd-pleasing simplistic solutions to long-term problems.

In normal times, patents preserve the profits of the
multinational companies that make drugs and vaccines, making it
illegal for rivals to turn out cheap copycat versions for up to 20
years. But amid a pandemic in which the WHO says no one is safe
until everyone is safe, campaigners say there is a powerful moral
case for ditching them.

The Biden announcement on waivers has divided the European
Union. Emmanuel Macron said he was “absolutely in favour” of the
move, in marked a shift for France, which had previously argued
that a patent waiver would discourage innovation.

The head of the European commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said
the bloc was open to debate. She pointed out that the EU’s
vaccination effort was accelerating, with 30 Europeans vaccinated
each second, while exporting more than 200m doses. Von der Leyen
said Europe was “also ready to discuss any proposals that address
the crisis in an effective and pragmatic manner”.

“That’s why we are ready to discuss how the US proposal for a
waiver on intellectual property protections for Covid-19 vaccines
could help achieve that objective,” she said.

The head of the panel reviewing the WHO’s handling of the
pandemic, Helen Clark, the former New Zealand prime minister,
earlier called on countries that have obstructed the temporary
suspension of intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines,
such as the UK, Switzerland and EU states, to follow the US lead
and back the initiative.

She described the Biden administration’s announcement as a
game-changer and said pharmaceutical companies that had received
billions in public money now needed to spread knowledge to scale up
vaccine production.

“When the US moves it is such a powerful signal,” Clark told the
BBC. “One would expect the UK, the EU and Switzerland and others
that have been obstructing the discussion on the waiver need to
say: ‘Yes, we are prepared to negotiate.’”

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex entered the debate on Thursday,
calling on Covid vaccine manufacturers to act with “responsibility
and leadership” and increase their allocation of doses distributed
to poorer parts of the world.

Harry and Meghan have written an open letter to the chief
executives of pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer, Moderna and
AstraZeneca urging them to redouble their support for the
UN-sponsored Covax programme.

Culled from theguardian.com