Wednesday

6th Dec 2023

EU counters Biden's vaccine patent-waiver with WTO plan

  • So far, 85 percent of vaccines delivered worldwide have been administered in high- and upper-middle income countries (Photo: UNICEF Ethiopia)

The EU has submitted to the World Trade Organization (WTO) a plan aimed at expanding the production of Covid-19 vaccines - which Brussels sees as a quicker and more-targeted solution to unequal global distribution of vaccines than the intellectual property right-waiver proposal backed by the US.

India and South Africa, supported by a large group of developing countries and international organisations, demanded in October 2020 a temporary waiver of intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines and treatments, and the proposal has steadily gained momentum.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

To the surprise of many, US president Joe Biden decided last month to support easing patent rules on Covid-19 vaccines.

While the EU says it is open to discussing the proposal, the 27-nations bloc is not convinced that this would provide "the best immediate response" to ensure "the widest and timely distribution of Covid-19 vaccines".

"In reality, the main problem at this moment relates to the lack of sufficient manufacturing capacity to rapidly produce the required quantities," the EU commissioner for trade Valdis Dombrovskis said on Friday (4 June) in a statement.

"The objective must be to ensure that any available and adequate manufacturing capacity, anywhere in the world, is used for the Covid-19 vaccines production," he added.

The EU's proposal is divided into three elements.

The European Commission, which oversees trade policy on behalf of member states, stressed that exports restrictions should be kept to a minimum - not only for vaccines and treatments, but also components and raw materials.

The EU has exported a total of 245 million vaccines to 46 different countries - accounting for about half of the total amount of vaccines produced in Europe.

Moreover, the EU has called on governments to encourage vaccine-makers and developers to enter licencing and manufacturing partnership with producers in developing countries to expand production.

Pharmaceutical firms are also expected to make concrete pledges to increase supplies in these countries.

This is already the case for BioNTech and Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna, which previously committed to delivering 1.3 billion doses this year to low-income countries at no profit, and to middle-income countries at a lower cost.

Finally, the EU stressed that there are existing "legitimate" tools under the WTO framework that allow governments to grant a producer a licence to make a vaccine without the consent of a patent holder.

EU officials told reporters on Friday there is "no evidence" that the current patent rights are an impediment to ramp up vaccine production in the least developing countries.

They also stressed that the US has not clarified what its proposal exactly is.

The EU would need to adopt a common position in the European Council before supporting the waiver. Notably, Germany, Portugal, Estonia and Belgium are reportedly sceptical, while Greece, Spain, France and Italy have shown themselves somewhat more supportive.

The European Parliament is expected to vote for a resolution focused on the patent-waiver proposal of Covid-19 vaccines and treatments on Wednesday (9 June).

During a previous debate on the matter, there was a lack of consensus among MEPs.

A revised proposal over the temporary patent-waiver will be discussed next week during the so-called TRIPS Council (8 and 9 June).

So far, 85 percent of vaccines delivered worldwide have been administered in high- and upper-middle-income countries, according to the New York Times vaccine tracker.

Opinion

If EU blocks vaccine waivers, it can drop 'solidarity' talk

Workers such as United Nurses Association of India are furious that the EU is undermining their best efforts and exacerbating the crisis by continuing to put big-pharma profits ahead of Covid vaccine patent-waivers. Is this what solidarity looks like?

EU now 'open' to vaccine waiver, after Biden U-turn

The European Union is now ready to discuss the proposal to waive temporarily intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines - following the historic decision by Washington in favour of easing patent rules.

'Shocking' disparities bolster vaccine patent-waiver call

The unbalanced distribution of vaccines globally has triggered calls to waive intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines. But an analysis of lobbying by watchdog Corporate Europe Observatory revealed how Big Pharma has influenced the EU Commission's position.

Pressure builds on EU to back WTO vaccine-patent waiver

MEPs have backed a motion demanding the temporality lifting of intellectual properties rights of Covid-19 vaccines - a symbolic move that puts pressure on the European Commission to change its position on the issue of global access to vaccines.

Opinion

The EU's U-turn on caged farm animals — explained

A European citizens' initiative — signed by 1.4 million people — saw the EU Commission promise to ban cages for 300 million farmed animals. Then the farming lobby got involved.

Opinion

'Pay or okay?' — Facebook & Instagram vs the EU

Since last week, Mark Zuckerberg's Meta corporation is forcing its European users to either accept their intrusive privacy practices — or pay €156 per year to access Facebook and Instagram without tracking advertising.

Latest News

  1. Crunch talks seek breakthrough on EU asylum overhaul
  2. Polish truck protest at Ukraine border disrupts war supplies
  3. 'Green' banks lend most to polluters, reveals ECB
  4. Tense EU-China summit showdown unlikely to bear fruit
  5. A look to the past and the future of China-EU relations
  6. Tusk's difficult in-tray on Poland's judicial independence
  7. EU nears deal to fingerprint six year-old asylum seekers
  8. Orbán's Ukraine-veto threat escalates ahead of EU summit

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  3. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  4. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?
  5. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  6. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  3. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  4. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  6. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us