'WTO approves vaccine-patent waiver to help combat Covid-19 pandemic', 17 June 2022

"The World Trade Organisation (WTO) approved a politically important deal on Friday (June 17) to water down intellectual property restrictions for the manufacture of Covid-19 vaccines after an almost two-year effort involving scores of high-level meetings and much political arm twisting.

During the early morning hours in Geneva, WTO ministers approved a package of agreements that included the vaccine patent waiver, which Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala previously said was necessary to end the "morally unacceptable" inequity of access to Covid-19 vaccines.

The WTO’s last-minute deal – secured after an all-night negotiating session in Geneva – is an important victory for Dr Okonjo-Iweala, the former head of Gavi – the vaccine alliance – who actively stumped for the accord during her first year as the WTO’s top trade official.

At the same time, the deal delivers a significant blow to vaccine manufacturers such as Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca, which fought hard to prevent nations from undermining the intellectual-property framework that enabled them to produce multiple viable Covid-19 vaccines in record time – saving countless lives...

...India blamed powerful nations for dragging out the negotiations for so long that it finally lost its relevance as pharmaceutical manufacturers were ultimately able to produce an oversupply of vaccines."