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Analysis The 'toast to the sun' of releasing patents on vaccines: punishing innovation without helping countries in health crisis
The
European Parliament
(
EP
) expressed his support for the celebration on Thursday
World Organization of Trade
of negotiations with a
view to temporarily suspend patents on
vaccines
against the
coronavirus
, so that they reach middle -
income and low where a small percentage of the population has agreed to immunization.
Specifically, the non-legislative resolution calls for support for "proactive, constructive and text-based" negotiations towards a temporary suspension of the agreement that governs intellectual property rights in the
World Trade Organization
to expand global access to vaccines. .
The claim is included in an amendment promoted by the
Greens
and approved by the minimum (325 votes in favor, 324 against) after the negotiations to reach a consensus on the resolution initially left out the explicit support of the
European Parliament
for this claim. The resolution as a whole went ahead with 355 votes in favor, 263 against and 71 abstentions.
The text approved by the EP points out that "exceptional circumstances require exceptional solutions" and calls for priority to be given to "the availability and affordability of health products related to
Covid-19
, to the increase in the production of vaccines against the
Covid-19
and the worldwide geographic distribution of manufacturing capacity. "
"International trade policy must play a driving role in this endeavor, facilitating trade in medical and healthcare raw materials and products, alleviating the shortage of qualified and experienced personnel, solving supply chain problems, and reviewing the global framework for intellectual property rights in the face of future pandemics ", completes the text.
In June 2021, recalls Parliament, some 1.6 billion doses of vaccines had been administered worldwide, the vast majority in industrialized and vaccine-producing countries, while only 0.3% had been administered in the 29 countries. poorest, where around 9% of the world's population lives.
Before the
WTO
, the
European Commission
has proposed that governments can force pharmaceutical companies to assign their patent for the
Covid-19
vaccine
at an "affordable" price, as a way to accelerate its production and increase its distribution. Brussels, however, rejects the idea of countries like the
United States
,
India
or
South Africa
to completely release the patent, because the pharmaceutical companies would not obtain any type of remuneration and the Commission wants to maintain the necessary levels of protection so that it can continue to innovate against new variants of the virus or future pandemics.
On the other hand, MEPs urge the
United States
and the
United Kingdom
to "immediately abolish" their bans on the export of vaccines and raw materials and consider that, in the long term, technology and knowledge transfers will be key in the race for increasing and accelerating global vaccine production.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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