“This has a real potential to help save lives, strengthen the economy, improve international relations and eventually end this awful pandemic.” US Army Specialist Angel Laureano holds a vial of the COVID-19 vaccine, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD. DoD photo by Lisa Ferdinando.

Under pressure, Biden backs COVID-19 vaccine patent waiver

by Jessica Corbett — Common Dreams

In the face of mounting international pressure, the Biden administration on Wednesday announced support for waiving intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines — which campaigners welcomed as “a transformative, hopeful event” that has the potential to save lives around the world, especially in the Global South.

US Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced the move as activists gathered in Washington, D. for a Rally for a People’s Vaccine urging President Joe Biden to back a Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waiver at the World Trade Organization (WTO) proposed by the India and South Africa.

Members of the WTO met earlier Wednesday to continue discussions about waiving intellectual property protections for much-needed vaccines. Biden’s support for the waiver is a major policy shift; up until now, the US government was a key opponent of the proposal, introduced when his predecessor was still in office.

“This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures,” Tai said in a statement. “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.”

Tai added that the Biden administration will engage in negotiations at the WTO that “will take time given the consensus-based nature of the institution and the complexity of the issues involved” while emphasizing that the ultimate “aim is to get as many safe and effective vaccines to as many people as fast as possible.”

“The Biden administration’s decision to support waiving intellectual property restrictions on COVID-19 vaccines is a genuinely transformative event, one which reinforces that there is real reason to hope for a better future when the right people are in place in the federal government,” said Jeff Hauser, executive director of the Revolving Door Project. “This one choice may save millions of lives.”

Hauser particularly praised Tai “for handling the first big political conflict of her tenure with grace and professionalism, as the administration ultimately worked toward the right call.” He added that her “ability to face down the well-funded and powerful pharmaceutical interests fighting against this waiver without fear shows that she was a perfect choice for this crucial job.”

“Again, appointments matter. Personnel is policy,” Hauser said. “We will closely watch the inevitable conflicts during the text-based negotiations at the World Trade Organization. But this initial decision is one which Americans and onlookers around the world should celebrate.”

The announcement did spark celebrations worldwide.

“Biden’s support for the TRIPS waiver is unquestionably the right thing to do for the world and the nation,” declared Arthur Stamoulis, executive director of the Citizens Trade Campaign, which helped organize a 431-group letter in support of the waiver earlier this year. “More work is needed to make sure the waiver moves forward as effectively as possible, but this has a real potential to help save lives, strengthen the economy, improve international relations and eventually end this awful pandemic.”

“COVID vaccines were developed with broad public support, and everyone worldwide deserves access to them,” Stamoulis added, expressing hope for speedy WTO negotiations. “Biden’s willingness to support the waiver is a testament not only his character, but to the excellent work of the hundreds of organizations and millions of individuals who urged this to happen.”

Biden and Tai “recognized that Pharma’s ‘business as usual’ is killing us,” said Oxfam America president and CEO Abby Maxman, applauding “their willingness to pursue a new path that prioritizes public health over private profits.”

Maxman agreed that the shift “is a testament to the widespread public movement calling for an end to vaccine monopolies. It is also a testament to an administration that listens and is willing to do whatever it takes to defeat COVID-19.”

The UK-based group advocacy group Global Justice Now tweeted that “THIS IS HUGE,” and said that “there can be no more excuses. The UK, EU, and all governments blocking a #TRIPSwaiver must change course. It’s time for a #PeoplesVaccine.”

US lawmakers including Representatives Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich) as well as Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) also welcomed the news.

Along with praising the administration’s move, Jamil Dakwar, director of the ACLU’s Human Rights Program, explained why the waiver is so necessary.

“Vaccine distribution is deeply inequitable at home, but even more so abroad,” he said. “One in four people in high income countries have received a vaccine dose; but just one in 500 people in lower income countries have received a dose. This extremely slow and inequitable distribution has dire consequences for billions of people around the world.”

Paul O’Brien, executive director of Amnesty International USA, also commended Biden for reversing the prior administration’s position on the waiver and making clear “that the US prioritizes people’s lives over pharmaceutical company profits,” while also urging the president to go even further to save lives.

Specifically, he called for promoting multilateral efforts to scale up production of health products through the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Technology Access Pool “to lead the global fight to eradicate the pandemic and to ensure that all people, regardless of where they live, are given their fair shot at access to the vaccine.”

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