Why the TRIPS Waiver Objections Don't Add Up - Barron's

Plans to help ease global access to Covid-19 vaccines by allowing more companies to manufacture them have been stuck for months. Large industries object to initiatives that would require them to share the rights and know-how needed to produce vaccines, citing various concerns. That’s unfortunate for the unvaccinated, because those concerns are largely baseless. “Intellectual property rights is part of the problem,” Ron Klain, President Joe Biden’s chief of staff, said yesterday. He also said manufacturing issues, like access to raw materials, were a bigger concern in getting vaccines produced. But it’s rare for a prominent American government official to acknowledge that IP is limiting access to medicine, and it’s a sign that the U.S. position may be softening. On Oct. 2, South Africa and India proposed a waiver at the World Trade Organization that would allow countries to suspend the protection of intellectual property for Covid-19 products for the duration of the pandemic. The move w

Plans to help ease global access to Covid-19 vaccines by allowing more companies to manufacture them have been stuck for months. Large industries object to initiatives that would require them to share the rights and know-how needed to produce vaccines, citing various concerns. That’s unfortunate for the unvaccinated, because those concerns are largely baseless. “Intellectual property rights is part of the problem,” Ron Klain, President Joe Biden’s chief of staff, said yesterday. He also said manufacturing issues, like access to raw materials, were a bigger concern in getting vaccines produced.