[CTC] Lawmakers appeal to Biden's conscience on Covid-19 vaccine waivers

[Arthur Stamoulis]

Lawmakers appeal to Biden's conscience on Covid-19 vaccine waivers
By Doug Palmer, Politico Pro

02/26/2021 03:27 PM EST

A group of House Democrats on Friday stepped up pressure on President Joe Biden to support a temporary waiver of patent protections for Covid-19 vaccines so that manufacturers around the world can copy the formulas and drastically increase production for doses especially for poorer nations.

That would reverse the Trump administration's opposition the waiver, which India and South Africa first proposed at the World Trade Organization in October.

The issue is expected to come up at a meeting of the WTO General Council on Monday and Tuesday. However, countries remained deadlocked on the issue during discussion this week in the WTO's intellectual property committee.

Moral argument: "We need to work to ensure that trading rules do not stop developing world's access to vaccines, treatment and diagnostic tests," Rep. Earl Blumenauer <https://cd.politicopro.com/member/51280?source=email> (D-Ore.) said during a press conference with some of the more 400 groups who have signed a letter to Biden <https://www.citizenstrade.org/ctc/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/COVIDTRIPSWaiverSignOnLetter_022621.pdf?source=email> in support of South Africa and India's waiver request. "It is literally a matter of life and death."

Blumenauer chairs the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee, where Biden's USTR nominee Katherine Tai formerly worked as chief international trade counsel.

The Democrats pointed to the huge sums the United States has spent to help pharmaceutical companies develop the vaccines.

"We have invested billions of dollars to expedite the research," said Rep. Rosa DeLauro <https://cd.politicopro.com/member/51351?source=email> (D-Conn.) "Let us make it available, let us open the doors and let other countries do what we want to try to do, which is to save people."

Rep. Jan Schakowsky <https://cd.politicopro.com/member/51607?source=email> (D-Ill.) said a group of about 30 members of Congress would be sending a letter to Biden on Friday. The members also plan to continue collecting signatures next week. Schakowsky reiterated that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi <https://cd.politicopro.com/member/51564?source=email> favors the United States dropping its opposition to the waiver.

Economic argument: The advocates also argue that any loss of pharmaceutical company profits would be more than offset by global economic gains that come from a quicker recovery all over the world.

"A new International Chamber of Commerce report concluded that the current best-case scenario of wealthy nations being fully vaccinated by the middle of 2021 and poor countries largely shut out could cause economic losses exceeding $9 trillion," the groups said in the letter to Biden. "Nearly half of those costs would be absorbed by wealthy countries like the United States, Canada and Britain."

Next step: The United States, the EU, Canada and other developed countries argue that strong intellectual property protections are needed to spur continued innovation. They also point out that the WTO agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, or TRIPS, already allows countries to waive patent protections in health emergencies.

But opponents says the TRIPS agreement isn't flexible enough and a more comprehensive, but temporary, waiver is needed to shield countries against lawsuits by patent holders.

The Biden administration has raised many of the same arguments that the Trump administration did in meetings at the WTO since it took office. But the new administration has appeared to be more receptive to considering the points raised by the lawmakers and activist groups who support the waiver. 

“The Biden-Harris Administration’s top priority is saving lives and ending the pandemic, including by investing in COVAX and surging vaccine production and delivery," USTR spokesperson Adam Hodge said earlier this week. "As part of rebuilding our alliances, we are exploring every avenue to coordinate with our global partners and are evaluating the efficacy of this specific proposal by its true potential to save lives.”

The groups vowed to continue their campaign even if the U.S. and other developed countries block the waiver request again next week.



Arthur Stamoulis
Citizens Trade Campaign
(202) 494-8826




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