The Global Health Summit is coming up. According to an exclusive report by Reuters, G20 leaders will support “voluntary licensing” of vaccine patents, rather than the U.S.-promoted vaccine patent exemptions. At the same time, leaders of the world’s largest economies have called for a strategic review of the World Health Organization’s plan to introduce a vaccine related to the Chinese Communist virus (Wuhan pneumonia).
The G20 (Group of 20) remains divided over whether to cancel intellectual property rights for the COVID-19 (Chinese Communist Virus-Induced Disease) vaccine. According to a draft “compromise” document seen by Reuters, G20 leaders pledged to work on “patent-pooling” of vaccines, to be adopted at a global health summit in Rome on Friday (May 21). The draft will be adopted at a global health summit in Rome on Friday (May 21).
According to an announcement issued by the Italian government on April 7, the Global Health Summit will be held in Rome on May 21. The event is co-hosted by the Italian G20 Presidency and the European Commission.
It is one of the main events of this year’s (2021) globally coordinated action against the Communist virus pandemic.
The Biden administration joined India, South Africa and many other developing countries earlier in May in calling on drugmakers to temporarily relinquish patent rights to the COVID-19 (the disease caused by the Chinese Communist virus) vaccine in the hope that this would boost vaccine production and make it more equitably distributed around the world.
However, the EU and other vaccine producing countries are skeptical, arguing that such a move would not bring short-term or medium-term relief to the epidemic. Instead, they urged Washington to lift restrictions on exports of vaccine raw materials and to ensure a faster ramp-up in global vaccine production through technology transfer and voluntary cooperation among vaccine producers.
On May 8, EU Council President Charles Michel said the day after the EU summit in Portugal, “We don’t think that this [abandoning vaccine patents] is a panacea in the short term.” French President Emmanuel Macron insisted that prioritizing intellectual property issues now “is the wrong debate.
“First of all, you have to be open.” Macron said, “In the United States, in the United Kingdom, 100 percent of what is produced is for the domestic market.”
“First of all, the Anglo-Saxons must stop their export ban.” The French president said.
According to the draft document, G20 leaders will work on “patent-pooling” for coronavirus (CCLV) vaccines, a less radical measure to encourage patent sharing. One industry expert said that while the initiative is still “bad” for pharmaceutical companies, it is at least not as extreme as patent exemptions.
“Patent-pooling” means that drugmakers voluntarily decide to share licenses for the production of their vaccine products in poor countries.
The summit’s draft conclusions underscore G20 leaders’ commitment to promote “voluntary licensing, technology and knowledge transfer, and patent sharing” on the issue of new coronavirus (CMV) vaccines.
G20 downplays WHO’s CCP virus-related plans
The G20 summit could also frustrate the World Health Organization’s (WHO) plans to accelerate the global release of vaccines, drugs and tests for the Chinese communist virus.
According to the draft document, global leaders reiterated their support for the so-called ACT gas pedal program proposed by WHO, although they did not explicitly commit to fully funding it. Instead, they “emphasize the need to share the burden of filling its funding gap through equitable responsibility. They called for a “strategic review” of the program, the draft document reads.
At one point in the original draft, leaders explicitly committed to providing “equitable and adequate funding” for the program.
The WHO program, which was launched in April 2020, remains significantly underfunded. The program seeks more than $34 billion to develop, procure and distribute vaccines and drugs against COVID (Chinese Communist Virus) globally. However, a funding gap of $19 billion remains.
The G20 is a forum for international economic cooperation, founded on December 16, 1999 in Berlin, Germany, consisting of the G7 (United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, France, Germany, Italy), the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), seven major economies (Mexico, Argentina, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Indonesia, Australia), and the the European Union.
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