After South Africa, India, the United States, and the EU agreed on a patent waiver for Covid-19 vaccines in March (see EUROPE 12912/9), it is now the turn of all members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to support, or not support, the text. During a meeting at the WTO on Tuesday, 3 May, Chair of the Council for [Trade-Related Aspects of] Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Lansana Gberie informed members that the text of the agreement was going to be sent to them and would be discussed on Friday, 6 May, with a view to forming a consensus among members.
The four negotiating parties had agreed to waive patents for Covid-19 vaccines destined for “developing countries that exported less than 10% of global vaccine doses in 2021”.
During the meeting, Mr Gberie indicated that China seemed “favourably disposed” towards implementing such a measure, according to a Genevan source. The country would actually be excluded from the scheme, even though it is a developing country and has exported more than 30% of the Covid-19 vaccine doses produced in the world. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)