Category: COVID19

COVID19, WTOLeave a comment

Is the delay the defeat of the TRIPS Waiver discussions at the WTO?

Priti Patnaik

With barely 10 days left for the WTO ministerial conference, countries are increasingly under pressure to arrive at a consensus on the text proposed by DG Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Members have met in small group discussions over the last few weeks, that have included participation of up to 30 members. Countries with smaller delegations have been spread thin across multiple, parallel negotiations at the WTO in the run up to the ministerial conference (12-15 June 2022) including for disciplines such as agriculture, fisheries among others. This analysis is based on the negotiations the version of the text dated May 30, seen … Continue reading Is the delay the defeat of the TRIPS Waiver discussions at the WTO?

COVID19, WHOLeave a comment

Health Emergencies Engulf WHO & its Priorities: A Wrap of WHA 75

Priti Patnaik

Seldom has WHO been forced to take such a decisive political stand, during its existence for three-quarters of a century. It may have now set a precedent that will be difficult to walk away from, in the future. This week will likely be seen as a watershed moment for WHO, when scores of member states pushed through a politically significant resolution, albeit, one that may be limited in practical terms, condemning “in the strongest terms Russian Federation’s military aggression against Ukraine, including attacks on health care facilities documented via the WHO’s Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care (SSA)”. The … Continue reading Health Emergencies Engulf WHO & its Priorities: A Wrap of WHA 75

COVID19, WTOLeave a comment

China’s Spokes WTO Quad Waiver Text, Offers to Sidestep if Conditions Met

Priti Patnaik

China, one of the biggest exporters of COVID-19 vaccines, told WTO members this week that it has concerns on an exports-based eligibility criterion that seeks to exclude developing countries that export more than 10% of the world’s vaccines – a condition that has been proposed as a part of the “Quad waiver text”, now being negotiated at the WTO. China said that “using the criterion of export share to define eligible members will send a wrong signal to the outside world and also have systemic implications to the future negotiations”. China also offered that if its concerns on such a … Continue reading China’s Spokes WTO Quad Waiver Text, Offers to Sidestep if Conditions Met

COVID19, Gavi, INDUSTRY, WHOLeave a comment
Sticky post

Pfizer Allegedly Pressured UNICEF to Keep Secret, Pricing for Anti-Viral Treatment Paxlovid. UNICEF Yielded

Priti Patnaik

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer allegedly pressured UNICEF to agree to non-disclosure requirements on pricing that would protect information on the prices of the company’s anti-viral treatment for COVID-19 Paxlovid, sources told Geneva Health Files. UNICEF, a procurement partner for the ACT Accelerator, recently concluded a supply agreement with Pfizer for up to 4 million courses of treatment. It is further learned that UNICEF reportedly took a unilateral decision to finalise the supply agreement with Pfizer without taking into account other partners of the therapeutics pillar of the ACT Accelerator (ACT A) including WHO, Global Fund, Unitaid. (Charitable Foundation Wellcome Trust is also a part … Continue reading Pfizer Allegedly Pressured UNICEF to Keep Secret, Pricing for Anti-Viral Treatment Paxlovid. UNICEF Yielded

COVID19, INDUSTRY, WHO, WTOLeave a comment

Public Hearings on a Pandemic Agreement Open Floodgates of Interest; WTO DG To Take Compromise Text on TRIPS Waiver to the Wider Membership

Priti Patnaik

Public Hearings on a Pandemic Agreement Open Floodgates of InterestAn impressive range of stakeholders made their interests and concerns known at the public hearings this week conducted by the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body set up to establish a new pandemic agreement. From feisty civil society activists to hard-as-knuckles lobbyists; from social justice champions to focused medical products manufacturers; from professors at American universities to healthcare workers; from representatives of the families of the deceased to wildlife experts; from anesthesiologists to anthropologists; from human rights scholars to teachers’ unions. These disparate group made forceful, incisive statements on what the pandemic meant to … Continue reading Public Hearings on a Pandemic Agreement Open Floodgates of Interest; WTO DG To Take Compromise Text on TRIPS Waiver to the Wider Membership

COVID19, INDUSTRY, WHOLeave a comment

Countries Find Chaos in Parallel Tracks on Drawing Up New Rules for Health Emergencies, Many Unprepared

Priti Patnaik

It was never going to be easy. As countries get deeper into the processes for defining new rules for future health emergencies, many delegations in Geneva and in the capitals, are finding it difficult to keep up with multiple consultations, formal, informal and across different forums. “It is chaotic and disorganized”, one Geneva-based health diplomat told us this week. While this is just the beginning of long drawn negotiations, churn and disagreements are to be expected. But it is clear that the processes that guide these negotiations, will undoubtedly determine outcomes. Most immediately, that there are two competing priorities. One … Continue reading Countries Find Chaos in Parallel Tracks on Drawing Up New Rules for Health Emergencies, Many Unprepared

COVID19, INDUSTRY, WHOLeave a comment

Curb Private Sector Participation In The Treaty-Making Process: Some Member States At WHO

Priti Patnaik

[Update from the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body] In a significant move, some member states at WHO have expressed caution and have sought to limit the participation of the private sector in the negotiations for new rules on pandemic preparedness and response. Last week, the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) met at the resumed session of its first meeting on March 14-15. The INB was set up earlier this year, to work towards a WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, following the Special Session of the World Health Assembly in November 2021. These efforts to limit … Continue reading Curb Private Sector Participation In The Treaty-Making Process: Some Member States At WHO

COVID19, INDUSTRY, WTOLeave a comment

The Lowest Common Denominator: The Quad Text on the TRIPS Waiver

Priti Patnaik

A developing country ambassador told us a few months ago that the best outcome on the waiver proposal would be to persuade the Americans and Europeans to have a solution that would include all kinds of medical products not just vaccines, and waiving all kinds of IP  protections not just patents, underlining the positions of these key WTO members respectively. Now, as a potential for a compromise is beginning to emerge, it seems that the proponents of the waiver might have lost out on both accounts. While scholars and access to medicine advocates have already panned the compromise text, these … Continue reading The Lowest Common Denominator: The Quad Text on the TRIPS Waiver

COVID19, INDUSTRY, WTOLeave a comment

A compromise on the horizon? TRIPS Waiver talks in the ‘Quad’ at the WTO

Priti Patnaik

While the Russian invasion of Ukraine has upended trade diplomacy at the WTO in recent days, the TRIPS waiver discussions have proceeded among a small group of members and is likely nearing a compromise, although differences persist. Sources familiar with the process told us that technical deliberations among the quad that includes the US, the EU, India and South Africa, are now nearing completion. These discussions are soon expected to follow at the level of the ministers of these four WTO members. “If the current text is acceptable by high-level decision-makers, it will then be taken up by the wider … Continue reading A compromise on the horizon? TRIPS Waiver talks in the ‘Quad’ at the WTO

COVID19, WHOLeave a comment

Game on at WHO: International Health Regulations Vs The Pandemic Treaty

Priti Patnaik

We are pleased to bring you the first edition of Treaty Talks, a new series that will track negotiations around a potential pandemic treaty in the coming months (and years). This edition is a comprehensive analysis of the first meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body that took place last week. The launch of the negotiations for a new instrument to govern health emergencies marks a significant milestone for global health power brokers. Yet no sooner than these discussions kicked off last week (now a world away), the geopolitical and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, was lit by Russia. Inevitably, the flames from … Continue reading Game on at WHO: International Health Regulations Vs The Pandemic Treaty