I wonder if the Indians would accept US/UK/Anglo countries help? or are they too proud/stupid to ask for help. As usual only the poor will suffered the most.
Coronavirus 2019-2020 thread (no unsubstantiated rumours!)
- Thread starter localizer
- Start date
The Global North, proudly putting profit before people...
Points
Medical workers converse among themselves at a quarantine center for Covid-19 coronavirus infected patients at a banquet hall that was converted into an isolation center to handle the rising cases of infection on April 15, 2021 in New Delhi, India.
Anindito Mukherjee | Getty Images News | Getty Images
LONDON — The U.S., Canada and U.K. are among some of the high-income countries actively blocking a patent-waiver proposal designed to boost the global production of Covid-19 vaccines.
It comes as coronavirus cases worldwide surge to their highest level so far and the World Health Organization has repeatedly admonished a “” in the distribution of vaccines amid the pandemic.
Members of the World Trade Organization will meet virtually in Geneva, Switzerland on Thursday to hold informal talks on whether to temporarily waive intellectual property and patent rights on Covid vaccines and treatments.
The landmark , which was jointly submitted by India and South Africa in October, has been backed by more than 100 mostly developing countries. It aims to facilitate the manufacture of treatments locally and boost the global vaccination campaign.
Six months on, the proposal continues to be stonewalled by a small number of governments — the U.S., EU, U.K., Switzerland, Japan, Norway, Canada, Australia and Brazil.
“In this Covid-19 pandemic, we are once again faced with issues of scarcity, which can be addressed through diversification of manufacturing and supply capacity and ensuring the temporary waiver of relevant intellectual property,” Dr. Maria Guevara, international medical secretary at Medecins Sans Frontieres, in a statement on Wednesday.
“It is about saving lives at the end, not protecting systems.”
The urgency and importance of waiving certain intellectual property rights amid the pandemic have been underscored by the WHO, health experts, civil society groups, trade unions, former world leaders, international medical charities, Nobel laureates and human rights organizations.
Advocates of the proposal have conceded the waiver is not a “,” but argue that removing barriers toward the development, production and approval of vaccines is vital in the fight to prevent, treat and contain the coronavirus.
watch now
VIDEO11:14
The race to vaccinate low-income nations
Conversely, pharmaceutical industry trade associations are against the waiver.
In a statement late last year, Thomas Cueni, director-general of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations, argued that diluting national and international intellectual property frameworks would be “dangerous and counterproductive.”
Instead, he argued the focus should be on science and innovation rather than “undoing the very system that supports it.”
To date, of one-in-four people in high-income nations has received a Covid vaccine, compared to one-in-over-500 for people in low-income countries.
At the current rate, the bulk of the adult population in advanced economies is to have been vaccinated against the virus by the middle of next year, whereas the timeline for poorer economies is likely to stretch to 2024 — if it happens at all.
In one possible shift in tone, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai last week that “significant inequities we are seeing in access to vaccines between developed and developing countries are completely unacceptable.”
Tai added that mistakes that had resulted in “unnecessary deaths and suffering” during the HIV/AIDS epidemic must not be repeated. However, the U.S. is yet to clarify whether it has changed its position on the waiver.
The European Commission has previously said waiving patents will not solve production capacity problems, claiming instead that policymakers need to find measures “to preserve the incentives to innovate.”
A spokesperson was not immediately available when contacted by CNBC on Thursday.
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
Thierry Monasse | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Andrew Stroehlein, European media director of Human Rights Watch, said via Twitter on Thursday the fact that high-income countries were “throttling vaccine production globally by blocking the TRIPS waiver — a proposal at the WTO to temporarily waive some intellectual property rules for medical products — is a scandal that affects us all.”
His comments come shortly after The People’s Vaccine Alliance that two-thirds of epidemiologists surveyed at some of the world’s leading academic institutions warned Covid mutations could render current vaccines ineffective in a year or less. The survey, published on March 30, interviewed 77 epidemiologists from 28 countries.
“It’s galling to hear pharma (companies) moan that a temporary waiver would ‘disincentivize’ them from making future vaccines. Apart from bordering on extortion, it’s ahistorical. What incentivized them last time was our taxes. Our governments poured billions into developing vaccines,” Stroehlein said.
“They could be thus incentivized again in future, obviously.”
Points
- The landmark proposal, which was jointly submitted by India and South Africa in October, has been backed by more than 100 mostly developing countries.
- Six months on, the proposal continues to be stonewalled by a small number of governments — including the U.S., EU, U.K., Switzerland, Japan, Norway, Canada, Australia and Brazil.
- Andrew Stroehlein, European media director of Human Rights Watch, said via Twitter on Thursday the fact that high-income countries were “throttling vaccine production globally by blocking the TRIPS waiver ... is a scandal that affects us all.”
Medical workers converse among themselves at a quarantine center for Covid-19 coronavirus infected patients at a banquet hall that was converted into an isolation center to handle the rising cases of infection on April 15, 2021 in New Delhi, India.
Anindito Mukherjee | Getty Images News | Getty Images
LONDON — The U.S., Canada and U.K. are among some of the high-income countries actively blocking a patent-waiver proposal designed to boost the global production of Covid-19 vaccines.
It comes as coronavirus cases worldwide surge to their highest level so far and the World Health Organization has repeatedly admonished a “” in the distribution of vaccines amid the pandemic.
Members of the World Trade Organization will meet virtually in Geneva, Switzerland on Thursday to hold informal talks on whether to temporarily waive intellectual property and patent rights on Covid vaccines and treatments.
The landmark , which was jointly submitted by India and South Africa in October, has been backed by more than 100 mostly developing countries. It aims to facilitate the manufacture of treatments locally and boost the global vaccination campaign.
Six months on, the proposal continues to be stonewalled by a small number of governments — the U.S., EU, U.K., Switzerland, Japan, Norway, Canada, Australia and Brazil.
“In this Covid-19 pandemic, we are once again faced with issues of scarcity, which can be addressed through diversification of manufacturing and supply capacity and ensuring the temporary waiver of relevant intellectual property,” Dr. Maria Guevara, international medical secretary at Medecins Sans Frontieres, in a statement on Wednesday.
“It is about saving lives at the end, not protecting systems.”
The urgency and importance of waiving certain intellectual property rights amid the pandemic have been underscored by the WHO, health experts, civil society groups, trade unions, former world leaders, international medical charities, Nobel laureates and human rights organizations.
Why does it matter?
The waiver, if adopted at the General Council, the WTO’s highest-level decision-making body, could help countries around the world overcome legal barriers preventing them from producing their own Covid vaccines and treatments.Advocates of the proposal have conceded the waiver is not a “,” but argue that removing barriers toward the development, production and approval of vaccines is vital in the fight to prevent, treat and contain the coronavirus.
watch now
VIDEO11:14
The race to vaccinate low-income nations
Conversely, pharmaceutical industry trade associations are against the waiver.
In a statement late last year, Thomas Cueni, director-general of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations, argued that diluting national and international intellectual property frameworks would be “dangerous and counterproductive.”
Instead, he argued the focus should be on science and innovation rather than “undoing the very system that supports it.”
To date, of one-in-four people in high-income nations has received a Covid vaccine, compared to one-in-over-500 for people in low-income countries.
At the current rate, the bulk of the adult population in advanced economies is to have been vaccinated against the virus by the middle of next year, whereas the timeline for poorer economies is likely to stretch to 2024 — if it happens at all.
‘A scandal that affects us all’
The world leaders opposed to the policy are coming under intensifying pressure to change course.In one possible shift in tone, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai last week that “significant inequities we are seeing in access to vaccines between developed and developing countries are completely unacceptable.”
Tai added that mistakes that had resulted in “unnecessary deaths and suffering” during the HIV/AIDS epidemic must not be repeated. However, the U.S. is yet to clarify whether it has changed its position on the waiver.
The European Commission has previously said waiving patents will not solve production capacity problems, claiming instead that policymakers need to find measures “to preserve the incentives to innovate.”
A spokesperson was not immediately available when contacted by CNBC on Thursday.
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
Thierry Monasse | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Andrew Stroehlein, European media director of Human Rights Watch, said via Twitter on Thursday the fact that high-income countries were “throttling vaccine production globally by blocking the TRIPS waiver — a proposal at the WTO to temporarily waive some intellectual property rules for medical products — is a scandal that affects us all.”
His comments come shortly after The People’s Vaccine Alliance that two-thirds of epidemiologists surveyed at some of the world’s leading academic institutions warned Covid mutations could render current vaccines ineffective in a year or less. The survey, published on March 30, interviewed 77 epidemiologists from 28 countries.
“It’s galling to hear pharma (companies) moan that a temporary waiver would ‘disincentivize’ them from making future vaccines. Apart from bordering on extortion, it’s ahistorical. What incentivized them last time was our taxes. Our governments poured billions into developing vaccines,” Stroehlein said.
“They could be thus incentivized again in future, obviously.”
Mainland China has been implementing 21 or 14+7 quarantine for more than a month now, since the recent outbreaks caused by people released from 14 quarantine.
In this policy, a person is to be quarantined for 14 days in dedicated centers upon arrival from abroad, then followed by a 7 days quarantine at home if possible, otherwise continue at the center. It is still 21 days solitary confinement.
That is absolutely brutal and will have long lasting psychological effects.
So WHO (actually COVAX financiers, the UK and US) dragged their legs to accept Chinese vaccines for so long, only unwillingly change their mind after their beloved wannabe vaccine superpower failed to deliver. I hope China put COVAX request far behind countries that approach China directly.
Am I right to equate Fosun to Pfizer in the mRNA vaccine development? That they are all the engineering and production end while BioNTech is the research end? I do wish that Fosun can ramp up its production to compete with Pfizer in oversea market. Here I am talking purely about commercial competition for market, building a Chinese pharmacy company that can pick on US company, at least in one product. It would also give EU a leverage against US, a vaccine based on German technology and produced out of US reach.
manqiangrexue
Brigadier
Excellent time for self-improvement, which people often don't have in their busy lives. Use that quarantine time to sort out those deep thoughts, then practice maybe your singing voice and to get on a bodyweight daily workout routine, catch up/get ahead on coursework if you have any, etc... Otherwise, too many little pricks nowadays spend all day online gaming anyway and will use the quarantine as an excuse like a rat trapped in a food pantry LOL
That is why China has near zero new cases, why Chinese can live almost freely every day right now. You gain months and years of freedom by paying 21 days. Simple math. If someone is not able to take that 21 days, he/she really has a nerve too weak to be a Chinese.
Throwback timeThat is why China has near zero new cases, why Chinese can live almost freely every day right now. You gain months and years of freedom by paying 21 days. Simple math. If someone is not able to take that 21 days, he/she really has a nerve too weak to be a Chinese.
When Modi said that 21 days was all India needed to fight COVID
The last 7 days in which one is allowed to serve at home makes a big deal. From a psychological perspective 21 days in a hotel would be a little too deleterious. I think the authorities made an excellent choice allowing the last leg to be served at home. These small details matter. It shows that Chinese authorities do pay attention to mental wellbeing despite contrarian mainstream opinion.
On the other hand, I do not know if the 21 day quarantine being implemented in HK and Singapore are fully served at a hotel. I think from a psychological perspective they should follow the Chinese role model.
Nevertheless I feel 21 days of solitary confinement is a little too punitive and if it were me, I would propose that the last 10 days be served with 2 fellow quarantinees. You share the mental burden that way.
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Yep. Pfizer is just US bs marketing. The work was done by BioNTech.
Unfortunately I dont think that Fosun is allowed to export. Correct me if I am worng, but I think Fosun is only allowed to supply domestically
You are right. Fosun is only to market it in China. For that, I hope it dies, leave the Chinese market to Chinese mRNA candidates.