US decision to drop IP on COVID-19 vaccines 'monumental'

Avril Benoît, executive director of MSF-USA, said of the announcement:

"MSF applauds the US government's bold decision to support the waiving of intellectual property on COVID-19 vaccines during this time of unprecedented global need. It is crucial that this waiver not just apply to preventative vaccines, but it should also cover other medical tools for COVID-19, including treatments for people who fall ill and diagnostics to help curb the spread, as originally proposed seven months ago. 

"The longer it takes to vaccinate everyone in the world, the greater the risk to us all as new variants have more opportunity to take hold. 

"While this decision means other manufacturers will have the information they need from pharmaceutical corporations—and the legal permission—to help scale up global supply and get more shots into the arms of people everywhere, this won’t happen immediately. 

“If the US truly wants to end this pandemic, it must also share its surplus vaccines doses with COVAX now and fill the access gap until additional manufactures are able to scale up production. The US must also demand that pharma companies that received significant amounts of US taxpayer funding to create these vaccines share the technology and know-how with other capable manufacturers to protect more people worldwide. 

“Countries that continue to oppose the WTO waiver, such as European Union countries, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, Norway, Japan, and Brazil must now take action, too, and decide to put people’s health before pharmaceutical profits and waive IP on all COVID-19 medical tools, including vaccines.”