Delegations at the World Trade Organization (WTO) gave their first impressions at a meeting on Friday 6 May on the quadrilateral agreement that was reached in March between South Africa, the US, India and the EU. The agreement provides for the lifting of patents on Covid-19 vaccines for production in “developing countries that exported less than 10% of global vaccine doses in 2021”.
China, which is primarily affected by these criteria (it is a developing country, but has exported more than 30% of the world’s doses), felt that this qualification gave out the wrong signal. For those countries, the criteria punishes those who provided a large volume of doses to the world when they themselves were experiencing shortages, according to a Geneva source. Beijing has suggested that the following wording should be included instead: “Under this decision, all developing member countries are eligible. Developing countries with the capacity to export vaccines are encouraged not to participate in this decision”.
Delegations have generally indicated that they needed more time to evaluate the text, but some have already noted elements that they consider problematic. Some countries that support the lifting of patents noted in particular that the text did not include medicines, diagnostic tools or technology transfer, which they see as being just as necessary as the vaccines.
Negotiations are expected to intensify with a view to potentially reaching a consensus over the text before the 12th Ministerial Conference to be held on 12-15 June. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)