President Cyril Ramaphosa has welcomed the US government’s decision to support a temporary waiver on intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines, saying it boosts the campaign led by SA and India at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to increase vaccine production and widen access to poorer countries.
“It goes to show the influence we have working together with others. This will ensure production is ramped up across many countries ... and it fits in with what we have been saying — that vaccines should be seen as a public good,” he said in parliament.
SA and India have led a group of low- and middle-income countries that have for months been urging the suspension of the WTO’s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (Trips) on Covid-19 vaccines, to expand the number of companies that can manufacture the products beyond patent holders and their licensees, to ramp up supplies to low and middle-income countries.
Their proposal has been backed by the AU and health activists, but has until now been fiercely opposed by wealthier nations with strong domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing industries, which have argued that suspending patents would discourage innovation.
Within hours of the reversal of the US administration’s position, announced by US trade representative Katharine Tai on Wednesday night, New Zealand and France had thrown their weight behind the plan, and on Thursday the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said the bloc was willing to discuss it.
Trade, industry and competition minister Ebrahim Patel said he hoped more developed countries would join the growing consensus on supporting a waiver.
“Covid-19 is a major test of our capacity to prioritise human lives and affirm that the enormous technological and scientific knowledge-base available to humanity will now be deployed to address a critical challenge that affects all nations. Africa cannot remain last in the queue in vaccine rollouts,” he said “It makes moral, legal and economic sense to pass the waiver,” he said in a statement.
More than 1.21-billion Covid-19 vaccines have been dispensed in 174 countries, but only 1% of them have been administered in Africa, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The slow pace of vaccine delivery in Africa has been worsened by the Serum Institute of India’s recent decision to halt exports and heightens the risk of a new wave of infections.
SA health activists warned that the US’s change in position on the IP waiver was only the first step towards improving access to Covid-19 vaccines.
Health Justice Initiative founder Fatima Hassan urged parties at the WTO to expedite the text-based negotiations that would bring the waiver into effect. It was also vital that countries such as the US, which had a stake in vaccine development, ensured pharmaceutical manufacturers entered into timeous technology transfer agreements with other companies to expand production, she said.
Section 27 executive director Umunyana Rugege said the waiver needed to be extended beyond Covid-19 vaccines.
“This decision is as result of massive global solidarity and mobilisation by activists around the world, who have been fighting for equitable access for Covid-19 vaccines for all. While we commend this decision, it is important the waiver applies to all Covid-19 medical tools, including treatment and diagnostics, and not just vaccines,” she said.
The US administration’s dramatic change in position was welcomed by the WHO’s Africa head, Matshidiso Moeti, who said it was a potentially game-changing development that could unlock millions of life-saving vaccine doses. “We hope negotiations are quickly wrapped up so we can ramp up the manufacturing and rollout of safe and effective vaccines. No country is safe until all countries are safe,” she said.
Africa Centres for Disease Control director John Nkengasong appealed to countries that had not yet backed the IP waiver proposal to placed themselves “on the right side of history”.
“Remember the disaster in Africa, when antiretrovirals were available in the developing world but took almost 10 years to get to Africa. Millions of Africans died needlessly,” he said.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.