We still need a vaccine patent waiver, but not the one on offer at the World Trade Organization meeting

Global Justice campaigners in London stand by fake coffins to highlight global COVID-19 deaths. If pharma companies waived intellectual property rights, it would be easier for low- and middle-income countries to access COVID-19 vaccines. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

In mid-June, the World Trade Organization (WTO) will meet to finish negotiations to waive certain sections of the agreement on Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). However, it is not the TRIPS waiver originally proposed 18 months ago by member states South Africa and India, which would have allowed countries to produce lower-cost generic vaccines and other COVID-19 medical tools without the risk of legal trade challenges.

The opposition to the waiver from a few WTO member states — home to the pharma companies holding monopoly patent rights over the vaccines — has resulted in “vaccine apartheid” (rich countries buying up all the early supplies) and “vaccine profiteering” (companies making multi-billion-dollar profits and fighting every effort to allow generic competition).