President Xi supports COVID-19 waiver
President Xi Jingping has announced his support for waiving IP rights for COVID-19 vaccines.
In a video call at the Global Health Summit last week, the president openly backed an early decision by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to waive COVID-19 vaccine patents, an idea first pitched by India and South Africa last October.
In his speech, translated here, Xi called upon countries developing and producing treatments to provide vaccines to developing countries “in urgent need”, as well as support businesses in “joint research and authorised production with other countries having the relevant capacity.
Multilateral financial institutions should also provide “inclusive financing support” for vaccine procurement in developing countries, including urging the World Health Organization to boost its COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) efforts.
The president concluded his speech, saying: “It is important that we uphold the spirit of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, fully heed the views of developing countries, and better reflect their legitimate concerns.”
Whether this open support from the biggest vaccine developing country will sway other governments opposing the waiver remains to be seen.
Waiver support
Support for the waiver has grown in recent weeks, with both the US and now China openly supporting the temporary waiving of IP rights for COVID vaccines.
In a letter from US trade representative Katherine Tai, the President Biden administration announced its support for the waiver, saying it “believes strongly in intellectual property protections, but in service of ending this pandemic, supports the waiver of those protections for COVID-19 vaccines”.
Despite the backing of the two largest vaccine-producing countries in the world, the waiver will need a unanimous vote in order to pass, with countries such as Switzerland and the UK blocking the plan.
Pharmaceutical companies, in particular, have been critical of the waiver, claiming that it would not help provide more equitable access to vaccines for countries in need, but are looking for alternative plans to get more people vaccinated.
On May 19, several pharmaceutical companies joint-published an alternative plan to get more vaccines to developing countries that would avoid waiving IP rights.
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