Pfizer Helped Create the Global Patent Rules. Now it's Using Them to Undercut Access to the Covid Vaccine. - The pharmaceutical company is opposing a proposal at the World Trade Organization to expand vaccine access to poor countries.
The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, whose Covid-19 vaccine with German partner BioNTech was approved December 11 for emergency use in the United States, has emerged as a vocal opponent of a global effort to ensure poor countries are able to access the vaccine. In October, India and South Africa put forward a proposal that the World Trade Organization (WTO) pause enforcement of patents for Covid-19 treatments, under the organization’s intellectual property agreement, “Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights,” or TRIPS. Читать дальше...