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The president of France tried to turn the tables on the Biden administration after his apply for vaccine patent exemptions, accusing “Anglo-Saxon” countries of hampering the global supply of life-saving punctures.
Emmanuel Macron said the debate on intellectual property caused by the US was a side view compared to the existing barriers to the export of vaccines and ingredients, and the need for voluntary schemes to share doses with the poorest countries.
At an EU summit in the Portuguese city of Porto, he specifically targeted the US, noting that the country was reserving homemade doses of vaccines for domestic use.
“Today, Anglo-Saxons block many of these ingredients and vaccines,” Macron said. “What is the real problem right now? It’s not really about intellectual property. You can cede intellectual property to labs that don’t know how to produce it. “
Also speaking in Porto, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said she was willing to participate in the debate on intellectual property exemptions, but added that other vaccine-producing regions needed to follow the EU and allow that a large part of its production be exported.
The comments came two days later President Joe Biden’s chief business adviser, Katherine Tai, said the U.S. would support a waiver of intellectual property protection for Covid-19 vaccines. This measure would allow pharmaceutical manufacturers to manufacture “imitation” vaccines without fear of being sued for infringement of intellectual property rights.
The Biden administration’s proposal gave the EU a wrong footing and provoked an icy response leading member states including Germany, headquarters of the pharmaceutical company BioNTech, which together with Pfizer manufactures one of the main vaccines against Covid-19.
Macron said he was willing to discuss intellectual property issues, but it was not the critical issue to be addressed, as he defended EU records on vaccine production and export.
Other restrictions, such as export bans and limited availability of raw materials, had a more decisive impact than patent protections on the global capacity to increase vaccine production, according to the EU.
“They have not given us a single example [production] capacity has been restricted due to patent protection or other intellectual property rights, ”a commission official said.
Von der Leyen said that while it was “open” to the debate over a patent exemption, this step would not produce any additional dose of vaccine in the short to medium term. Those involved in the debate on the exemption from intellectual property should, like the EU, be willing to export “a large part of what is produced in this region,” he said, in a clear challenge to USA.
To date, the EU has exported about 200 million doses of vaccine, a number similar to those administered to its own citizens, von der Leyen said. In contrast, few vaccines have come out of the US.
EU officials said Washington had notified the EU in advance of the patent measure shortly before it was made public on Wednesday, but that there was no consultation or attempt to coordinate positions. “If you ask me what should happen next, the first thing is that the U.S. explains exactly what they mean by the announcement they made: we haven’t seen anything but a very general statement,” an official said.
Brussels is now trying to decide how to respond and European leaders will have to discuss the issue at a summit dinner in Porto on Friday evening.
“Whether there is a waiver or not, the problem goes much further,” a commission official said on Friday, citing issues such as the need to keep supply chains open, with mRNA vaccines coming from of 280 components from 19 countries.
Another issue, according to the officer, was that access to patents was not the same as acquiring the knowledge to make a vaccine. About 80 to 100 patents were involved in creating an mRNA vaccine, the official said, adding that even access to all “does not provide you with an overview of how to produce the vaccine,” that’s why you need knowledge and technology ”.
Brussels also argues that existing international agreements on intellectual property already offer some flexibility to share the IP vaccine, including the possibilities for compulsory licensing.
The EU has in recent months resisted a push by India and South Africa within the World Trade Organization for a vaccine patent exemption. Brussels is concerned that it is facing international pressure to change its position in the WTO talks, currently scheduled for early June, although there is now a possibility that a meeting could be held this month, according to the commercial managers.
A senior Biden administration official said there was now a possibility that the WTO would unite to offer solutions that would help save lives. “We will continue to increase our efforts, working with the private sector and all potential partners, to expand the manufacture and distribution of vaccines worldwide and increase the raw materials needed to produce these vaccines.”
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