The EU trade chief is pushing for more Covid Jab production and no patent exemptions

The European trade chief has called for a rapid increase in global vaccine production as the best way to combat the pandemic, arguing ahead of next week’s crisis talks against a narrow focus on patent exemptions that has been backed by the US.

Valdis Dombrovskis told the FT that the EU’s approach was based on “vaccine response strategies in reality” and insisted that “the main problem right now is related to the lack of sufficient manufacturing capacity”, in place of problems related to patents.

The EU, which has exported vaccine doses of 250 million compared to the 25 million the United States has authorized so far, was blinded last month when Washington announced it was moving behind calls for patent waivers in order to increase global vaccine production and save lives.

This American approach would allow any manufacturer in the world to manufacture “imitation” vaccines without being sued for intellectual property infringement. The cause is being defended in the WTO by India and South Africa, with the support of many other countries, including China, Argentina and Indonesia.

But Dombrovskis said there was still “no concrete US proposal on the table and we don’t have any information coming either.” Instead, “we put on the table a concrete EU proposal, on how we believe we can achieve this goal of global vaccine deployment,” he said.

The EU’s approach, which Brussels will present to the World Trade Organization next week, focuses on three areas. In the documents seen by FT, he advocates the abolition of export restrictions and support for the expansion of production, even through subsidies.

And third, instead of renouncing patents, Brussels believes that there is enough flexibility in existing intellectual property rules, through the so-called Trips agreement, to allow the necessary licenses to be made.

“Intellectual property is not and should not be an obstacle to equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics during the pandemic,” the documents say. “Limited manufacturing capacity, access to raw materials and other inputs are the main bottlenecks.”

Although patent exemptions are a broad annulment of intellectual property protection, the granting of vaccine licenses allows for the revocation of patents under certain restricted conditions.

Brussels has consistently argued that the debate is over patent exemptions become a distraction from more productive avenues to boost production. The debate is also very sensitive for the EU, which hosts Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers such as BioNTech.

During WTO talks earlier this week, the United States said it was willing to start detailed negotiations, while urging other countries to submit proposals they could approve. The EU plan aims to influence the discussions at a WTO meeting focused on intellectual property and Covid, which will take place from 8 to 9 June.

Dombrovskis, meanwhile, urged EU pharmaceutical companies to “contract voluntary licensing agreements and cooperation agreements with producers also in developing countries to have additional manufacturing capacity.”

The EU trade commissioner said the main aim of the plan that would eventually be raised at the WTO was “to work to ensure universal and equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines and treatments”.

“So far we are the only major producing region that can credibly state that we have pursued this goal since the beginning of the crisis,” he said.

Referring to other vaccine-producing countries such as the United States, he added: “We are happy to see others begin to catch up, but they should do so more quickly.”