* WTO resumes talks
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja with agency report
World Bank President, Mr. David Malpass, said yesterday that the bank does not support waiving intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines, noting that he was concerned that it would hamper innovation in the pharmaceuticals sector.
His comments on the subject, made during a call with reporters on World Bank economic forecasts, came as the World Trade Organisation (WTO), negotiations over the proposed waiver resumed in Geneva.
Asked whether he backs a WTO vaccine IP waiver, which India, South Africa and other emerging market countrie needed to expand vaccine access, Malpass said the bank would not support the call.
“We don’t support that, for the reason that it would run the risk of reducing the innovation and the Research & Development in that sector,” Reuters reported him as saying.
The comment puts Malpass, a Donald Trump administration’s nominee, at odds with the Joe Biden’s government, which is supporting text-based WTO negotiations for vaccine intellectual property rights, led by US Trade Representative, Katherine Tai.
Major vaccine makers and the pharmaceutical industries have opposed the waiver from the WTO’s agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), arguing that it would stifle innovation and do little to effectively increase vaccine supplies constrained by trade barriers, shortages of components and a lack of manufacturing capabilities.
Malpass reiterated his calls for wealthy countries to quickly donate their excess vaccine doses to the developing world as quickly as possible.
The World Bank said its global growth forecasts, raised to 5.6 per cent for 2021 and 4.3 per cent for 2022, could be higher if vaccinations can be accelerated in developing countries.
In Geneva, negotiations were proceeding yesterday and Wednesday (today) over revised waiver proposals from India and South Africa that remained far broader than the narrow vaccine-only waiver favoured by Tai.
“It seems to be they are still far apart. Their positions have not fundamentally changed,” a Geneva-based trade official told the news medium.
WTO Director-General, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a proponent of the waiver, had recently said that even intellectual property waiver alone will not be enough to narrow the huge COVID-19 vaccine supply gap between rich and poor countries.
She noted that it was clear that discussions around vaccine patents alone would not suffice, saying that global leaders should do more to ensure that there is equitable production and distribution of the jabs.
Okonjo-Iweala said developing countries had complained that the licensing process was cumbersome and should be improved upon, adding that while it makes sense to protect research and innovation, it is also important to expand access to the vaccines.
