World health Organization (WHO) Secretary General Tan Desai (Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus) wrote an article in The Guardian on the 5th that he supports the cancellation of commercial patents for the Wuhan pneumonia (novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19) vaccine, so that countries around the world can produce and cheaply sell vaccines invented by other countries, but this move was met with strong opposition from many countries in Europe and the United States and major pharmaceutical companies The Guardian
The Guardian reports that on March 11, the first anniversary of the global pneumonia pandemic in Wuhan, the WHO will hold a meeting on that day to discuss the cancellation of commercial patents on the vaccine. The proposal was put forward by South Africa and India, and Tandse has expressed his support. 100 countries now support the abandonment of intellectual property rights for vaccines, mostly low- and middle-income countries, while rich countries are against it.
Tandse said in the article that the current extraordinary moment in history, the global need to “prepare” for the challenge, in an emergency, trade regulations have the flexibility to apply to a special emergency, and now the Epidemic has closed many places and hit the economy, has clearly qualified.
He stressed that pharmaceutical companies will still receive certain benefits, and temporarily abandoning patents does not mean that the interests of researchers will be affected, just as during the AIDS crisis or war, pharmaceutical companies can still receive monetary compensation such as product royalties. Tandse suggested that a range of measures could be considered, including dose sharing, technology transfer, and voluntary licensing of production.
Tandse said 225 million doses of Wuhan pneumonia vaccine have been administered worldwide, the vast majority in a handful of wealthy and vaccine-producing countries, while most low- and middle-income countries are watching and waiting. He warned that as long as the virus continues to spread, a mutation crisis will occur, causing the vaccine to become less effective and go back to the drawing board again.
The U.S., U.K. and European governments and drug companies are strongly opposed to the proposal, arguing that the move will reduce revenue and affect future long-term research and development momentum, the report said.
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