Pres. Biden Backs Lifting Patent Protections on COVID Vaccines

Aiming to clear a hurdle for vaccine-strapped countries to produce their own vaccines despite the patents being privately held, President Joe Biden on Wednesday sent his support behind waiving the intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines proposed by the World Trade Organization.

The current pace of inoculation against coronavirus in the U.S. is slowing down. In some states, there are more doses of vaccines than the number of individuals who want them.

U.S. trade representative Katherine Tai shared in a statement that the world is suffering in a global health crisis and the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic call for exceptional measures.

According to NPR, Tai also mentioned that the Biden administration strongly believes in intellectual property protections. But if it's one of the possible ways of ending the pandemic, the administration supports the waiver of those protections for coronavirus vaccines.

With an estimated population of close to 1.4 billion, the country of India is currently the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the ongoing production of the vaccines, the Indian government so far only managed to inoculate two percent of its population.

The World Trade Organization is considering a proposal to address the inequity. The countries of India, South Africa, and more than 100 other nations advocate waiving intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines and medications, which might let manufacturers in other countries produce their own, The New York Times reported.

World Trade Organization counselor for South Africa, Mustaqeem de Gama, noted that the consequences of not passing the waiver are staggering. He noted that it is not only on the level of the loss of human lives but also on the economic level.

De Gama said they believe that intellectual property rights constitute a very substantial barrier to ensure equitable access.

He added that they also believed that if they could have a limited, targeted waiver to ensure that they can ramp up production in strategic parts of the world, they would go a long way to ensure that they address not only the prevention but also the treatment of coronavirus.

Before the announcement of the Biden administration on Wednesday, the U.S. was included in a number of wealthy nations that initially resisted WTO negotiations regarding the proposal. Other countries also include the U.K., Japan, and Canada.

Pharmaceutical Industry Response on Biden's Move

Meanwhile, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), a drug industry trade group, responded to the administration's support and expressed strong opposition to the move.

The PhRMA argued that the move represents a break in long-standing U.S. policy over medical patents and global inequities, ABC News reported.

The PhRMA noted that amid a deadly pandemic, the Biden administration had taken an unprecedented step that will undermine their global response to the pandemic and compromise safety.

It added that the decision of the Biden administration would also sow confusion between public and private partners. It will also further weakened the already strained supply chains and fostered the proliferation of counterfeit vaccines.

The PhRMA also emphasized that the decision will compromise U.S. job creation and the place of the U.S. as a leader in biomedical innovation. But the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) praised the Biden administration's intent to lift the proprietary limits on coronavirus vaccines.

WATCH: Can a Patent Waiver Speed Up the Global COVID Vaccination Drive? - From DW News