Activists urge SA and India to hold firm on Covid IP waiver at WTO talks
Signatories say leaked compromise deal is a ‘stitch-up’ and favours the US and EU at the expense of developing countries
More than 300 activists, academics and organisations from around the world have urged SA and India to reject the leaked compromise deal that emerged earlier this year at World Trade Organization (WTO) talks on a waiver for intellectual property rights for Covid-19 technologies, saying it is a step backwards and would make it harder for developing countries to obtain vaccines and treatments.
The leak exposed a compromise position apparently reached by negotiators for the US, EU, SA and India that sought to break the deadlock over the IP waiver. SA and India had proposed in October 2020 that the WTO waive patents on Covid-19 vaccines, tests and treatments for the duration of the pandemic, to enable large-scale manufacturing of cheap generics...
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