The topic of the moment is: to suspend patents for Covid-19 vaccines or not? To the General Council of the World Trade Organization (IN THAT) in Geneva the great of the earth are discussing this. The moratorium requested by India and South Africa, supported by at least other central states of the organization, also obtained the approval of theUS administration and this is a good sign. Joe Biden it could act as a driving force for all those countries that are not yet fully convinced. To tell the truth, even the European Union was initially hesitant, as if it were a sacrilege to deal with Intellectual property, despite the dramatic pandemic underway in every corner of the world.
But it seems that the EU has also changed its mind for a few hours. Ursula von der Leyen he recently declared: “I remember well the beginning of the pandemic and Italy’s appeal toEurope. The Italians asked for European solidarity and coordination. Italy was right. Europe had to intervene. And this is what we have done now ”. A stance that, like Biden’s, opens the door to a result that many expect.
The agreement wants the general director of the WTO, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. According to the spokesman for the World Trade Organization, he spoke of “a strong and shared position on the part of all members for increasing the production of vaccines, drugs and tests in developing countries. When one speaks so clearly in favor of a common goal, it becomes easier to say yes ”. But that’s not enough.
On the other hand, the position of citizens, of people who have no decision-making power, is what is commonly defined as public opinion.
A poll by the network of non-governmental organizations called the People’s Alliance for the Vaccine says that seven out of ten citizens are in favor of their governors ensuring that pharmaceutical companies in their countries share vaccine formulations and technologies. Numbers that in Italy are even higher: the82% of the population would like a patent moratorium.
Not just vaccines, however, India e South Africa, two states that have also seen native variants of the virus, are demanding that the temporary elimination of intellectual property for medicines e diagnostic tests for Covid.
According to the two countries, the drugs and tests would be easily reproducible because they do not require a specific one know how.
One of the fundamental points is precisely this: knowledge. In fact, it is not enough to find an agreement to temporarily block the intellectual property of patents. The large pharmaceutical companies that produce the vaccine need to make the skills, skills. Without those, the production of the vaccine doses is virtually impossible.