In light of the spread of Omicron, new pressures threaten the World Trade Organization regarding the manufacture of vaccines

Pressure is mounting on members of the World Trade Organization to reach an agreement on waiver of intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines, after it announced the postponement of the ministerial conference due to the emergence of the Omicron mutant.

In a report published by the American newspaper "The Hill", writer Justin Coleman says that many countries, such as India and South Africa, are pressing wealthy countries to waive intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines, and the Biden administration publicly supports this step. That would allow more countries to manufacture vaccines themselves.

The postponement of the conference - at which members were due to consider suspending the proposed waiver - has raised fears that waiting could further hamper global vaccination efforts and widen the vaccine gap between rich and poor countries.

The emergence of the new mutant, Omicron, contributed to renewing the call to waive intellectual property for Covid-19 vaccines, including the call of Senator Bernie Sanders to waive it temporarily and allow more countries and pharmaceutical companies to produce vaccines without facing legal consequences.

Many experts and advocates of this option believe that the new mutation requires "urgency" from the World Trade Organization and its members at a time when the countries of the world are racing to vaccinate their populations in order to avoid further development of the virus and the emergence of more mutations.

Between supporters and opponents

But vaccine makers - along with the pharmaceutical research group and manufacturers in America - have expressed their opposition to waiving intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines, saying that it is not an effective solution to speed up vaccination campaigns and could complicate the vaccine manufacturing process.

The General Council of the World Trade Organization decided to postpone the ministerial conference that was scheduled to be held between last November 30 and the third of this December, after several governments - including Switzerland, where the organization’s headquarters is located - imposed travel restrictions after being informed Both South Africa and Botswana are mutant omicron.

After the discovery of the new mutant, President Biden issued a statement more than a week ago in which he called on members of the World Trade Organization to support the waiver of intellectual property for vaccines, and the US President said that the news related to this new mutant makes it clear more than ever that this epidemic will not end until a vaccination is completed. All inhabitants of the world.

While the Biden administration has expressed support for ceding intellectual property rights to vaccines more than 6 months ago, lawmakers and organizations have called on the United States to press more for an agreement during the postponed ministerial conference.

For his part, Bernie Sanders - who was part of this call - criticized the World Trade Organization in a statement in which he said that "the time for discussion" about waiving intellectual property is "over", while millions are still waiting for their turn to receive the first dose of the vaccine.

In October 2020, India and South Africa submitted a proposal to waive intellectual property rights, but governments such as the European Union, the United Kingdom and Switzerland opposed it, arguing that the suspension of intellectual property rights required a unanimous vote by members of the World Trade Organization.

The writer quoted Mohaja Kamal Yani, an advisor to the People Vaccine coalition, that supporters of the waiver of intellectual rights pinned their hopes on the Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization to be a potential turning point in the vaccination efforts, but she believes that the waiver should not come from the ministerial conference, but rather It can be approved by the members of the General Council of the World Trade Organization.

According to Our World in Data, vaccination inequality around the world is evident, with nearly 60% of the population of Europe and countries such as the United States fully vaccinated, while the rate of vaccination in the continent of Africa As a whole, less than 8%.

Surrendering isn't the arrangement

According to a general wellbeing perspective, Mohaja Yani cautioned that the infection can't be controlled in one country, two nations, one district, or even a whole mainland like Europe, while overlooking it in different nations, in light of the fact that in this way the infection will return once more.

Anne Pritchett, VP of strategy and exploration at the "Drug Research and Manufacturers of America" bunch, expressed that the waiver won't assist with saving lives internationally, and may detrimentally affect the accessibility of the immunization at the worldwide level, and cause some sort of vulnerability around at least 200 organizations and the associations that We have all over the planet to expand the ability to make antibodies, and she added, "Given the idea of these extremely complicated immunizations, since licenses are submitted doesn't imply that any immunization producer will actually want to create protected and compelling immunizations."

Furthermore as per what a representative for "Pfizer" (pfizer) told the paper, "The Hill," postponing protected innovation freedoms won't give genuine answers for extend admittance to the immunization, when the business is viewed as ready to foster adequate antibodies for the world by the center of the year. 2022.

This organization is planned to give two billion dosages of the immunization to low and center pay nations this year and next, with 783 million portions being conveyed up until this point, and the representative demonstrated that the drug organization is attempting to further develop its production network by growing existing offices, expanding providers and manufacturing associations. with different makers.

Also last Friday, Jeff Zents, the White House pandemic organizer, said that the United States focused on giving 1.2 billion portions and gave 291 million dosages to 110 nations, including 11 million delivered on Friday. Yet, promoters of waiver of protected innovation privileges said the gifts would not give an adequate number of dosages to immunize a large portion of the total populace before more antibody safe transformations arose.

"We are discussing the requirement for billions of portions of antibodies, and the issue isn't predominantly rearrangement of what we have, however we need to fabricate new manufacturing plants, we really want more dosages, it is unnerving," says Laurie Wallach, overseer of the Ordinary Citizen's World Trade Watch. That we know the exit and not go to it."