'Global health activists are slamming the tentative deal as not only insufficient, but a potential setback, because it excludes tests and treatments.'
for failing to aggressively push for a meaningful deal. Proponents of the proposal had hoped that the months-long talks between the quad could find a way through the impasse.
The agreement also waives a requirement that compulsory licenses — when a government green-lights production without the consent of a patent owner — can only be for domestic use. This could open the door for production of Covid-19 vaccines to be exported to other countries, something that has the potential to provide more supply for Global South countries.
Activists from around the world argue that tests and antivirals are essential to containing the global Covid epidemic. In February, more than 200 global civil society organizations published an openinsisting that any TRIPS waiver include “diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines,” so that countries can robustly address all aspects of the pandemic.
Brook Baker is a Northeastern University professor who also serves as a senior policy analyst for Health GAP, a health justice organization. He tells In These Times that, even if vaccines were the only consideration, overriding patents alone is not enough. “Moderna promised in 2020 it would not enforce patents, but it refused to give its trade secrets, manufacturing know-how, or background information that is kept secret under trade secrets law,” he explains.