MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th March, 2021) Multinational organization Doctors Without Borders on Tuesday called on Western countries to stop blocking a proposal to waive intellectual property rights for coronavirus vaccines and drugs in the run-up to a crucial World Trade Organization (WTO) summit.
The proposal was first voiced by India and South Africa in October. The initiative is now backed by 58 sponsoring governments, and around 100 countries support it overall, according to the humanitarian organization.
"As governments prepare to meet for another round of talks at the World Trade Organization (WTO) tomorrow, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) urged the small number of governments that continue to block a landmark waiver on intellectual property (IP) during the pandemic to immediately reverse their stonewalling and allow formal negotiations at the WTO to start," the NGO said.
The MSF lambasted the fact that, even a year on since the start of the pandemic, some countries keep blocking the proposal that is meant to boost access to "needed treatments, vaccines and tests."
"At the same time, many of the countries blocking or delaying the proposal, including the US, UK, European Union, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, Japan and Norway, have also secured the majority of available vaccines, much more than needed to vaccinate their entire populations," it added.
According to the medical NGO, the temporary waiver would apply to "certain IP on COVID-19 medical tools and technologies until herd immunity is reached."
Opponents, including the US and the EU, have voiced concerns that limiting IP would fail to address production and distribution bottlenecks, but, at the same time, would undercut the financial incentive for businesses to invest in future research and development.
