Geneva: Removing intellectual property (IP) protections from COVID-19 vaccines or pressuring companies into technology sharing will not speed up production of the jabs, and could even slow it down, the industry has warned.
Proponents of doing away with IP rights say more companies in more countries could produce the vaccines, providing broader access in poorer nations that so far have seen few doses.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, whose country is co-leading a push at the World Trade Organization to exempt COVID-19 vaccines from IP rights, insisted Friday the jabs were a public good and must be recognised as such .
Pushing against the proposed Intellectual Property (IP) waiver for Covid vaccines, Pharma companies are saying that removing IP protections from Covid-19 vaccines or pressuring companies into technology sharing will not speed up production of the jabs. The companies claimed such a measure would even slow down the vaccine production.
Supporters of the measure to do away with IP rights say that this can enable more countries to produce the vaccines thereby increasing accessibility.
2 hr 14 min ago
NOW: CDC advisers meet to discuss how to move forward with J&J vaccine in the US
From CNN s Maggie Fox
Vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are meeting now to discuss how to move forward with Johnson & Johnson s Janssen coronavirus vaccine.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is scheduled to meet until to 5 p.m. ET Friday and to vote on updated recommendations for use of the vaccine and whether it s likely to be linked to a rare blood clotting syndrome they are calling thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS).
Other groups have called it vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia or VITT, but ACIP is sticking with more neutral language that doesn t presume vaccines are causing the condition.
(Bloomberg) Moderna Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline Plc are among a group of drugmakers calling for countries to remove trade barriers related to Covid-19 vaccines amid worsening shortages of basic products needed to manufacture shots globally. The industry is highlighting that the world needs more raw materials, including lipids used in the messenger RNA vaccines, tubing and plastic bags, according to a press briefing Friday on Covid-19 manufacturing led by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations. Panelists criticized the use of the U.S. Defense Production Act to protect U.S. supplies, as that’s aggravating the problem. Vaccine production depends on the availability of more than 100 components and ingredients. As the industry prepares to make as many as 10 billion doses this year, rising nationalism is threatening those plans, drugmakers and trade groups warned. U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration is weighing an appeal from progressive Democr
World Seeking Shot In The Arm For Vaccine Production By Christophe VOGT
04/15/21 AT 10:36 AM
The gap between rich and poor countries access to Covid-19 vaccines grows ever-more glaring by the day but nobody has yet managed to conjure up the golden solution.
While wealthy countries immunise younger sections of the population, some states are still waiting to administer their very first doses to those most vulnerable to the virus.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the new head of the World Trade Organization, has made squaring the circle her top priority.
On Wednesday, the WTO brought together around 50 stakeholders including pharmaceutical giants, suppliers, governments and international institutions to thrash out the issue behind closed doors.