Earlier, on May 5, the administration of President Joe Biden supported the removal of vaccine patent protection to speed up production around the world. If approved by the World Trade Organization (WTO), the move would allow other countries to create their own vaccines. However, according to reviews from Reuters , patent cancellation will not solve the current pressing problem: There is a worldwide shortage of vaccine components and equipment. Meanwhile, the United States, which holds a significant amount of vaccine production materials such as filters, tubes or specialized bags, is not ready to share with many other countries. Stickers are given to people who have received the Covid-19 vaccine. Photo: Reuters. America’s “Priority” Act This action stems from America’s reliance on a 1950s Korean War-era law, known as the Defense Production Act (DPA), which allows federal agencies to prioritize orders defense-related purchases. For decades, the law has been used to provide military supplies and respond to everything from natural disasters to biennial census disruptions. The government of former President Donald Trump later invoked this law to put the US government at the top of the list to buy vaccines and other products made by the US to fight the epidemic. When talking about the DPA, Gavi – a vaccine alliance that includes international organizations, governments, pharmaceutical companies and many others – commented: “The biggest challenge in COVAX’s goal to achieve Equal access to vaccines is a limited global supply.” “Export controls on raw materials are a significant cause of this phenomenon and ultimately only prolong the pandemic,” the organization stressed. However, a senior Biden administration official said there is no export ban and all US-based suppliers have shipped products overseas after prioritizing manufacturers in the US. country. The official said the DPA does not cause a global shortage of vaccine materials, and the problems stem from overwhelming demand. Complaints from India Even with access to vaccine patents, countries hit hard by Covid-19 like India cannot produce vaccines without raw materials. The number of Covid-19 cases in India has been increasing continuously recently. Photo: Reuters. With the DPA, factories helped the US build a giant vaccine production system. About 45% of the US population has received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. Meanwhile, according to data collected at the University of Oxford, UK, dozens of other countries, from South Africa to Guatemala, to Thailand, have only immunized about 1% or less of their population. The US DPA has been criticized by many vaccine manufacturers around the world, including the Serum Institute of India, the largest producer globally. On Twitter in late April, CEO Adar Poonawalla “on behalf of the vaccine industry outside the US” asked the US to lift its hold on raw materials “if we really want to unite to defeat this virus.” “. Starting in May, the company plans to produce billions of doses of the vaccine annually developed by the US-based company Novavax. However, the quantity would probably be more than halved without raw materials from the US. South Africa’s Biovac vaccine production institute also relies on an American company to produce bioreactor bags, the material needed for cell culture. CEO Morena Makhoana said Biovac was warned by its US supplier that product delivery times could be double the usual time to 14 months because of the DPA. “Unexpected demand” Some suppliers say the vaccine industry can do a better job than governments at managing limited resources to maximize global reach. “If the ultimate goal is to produce a vaccine, then we believe (the government) needs to let the industry connect with its stakeholders to be able to deliver the end product,” said Thermo Fisher Vice President, Thermo Fisher, Mr. Michel Lagarde, said. A Biden administration official said experts from various federal agencies discussed the US prioritization system. Officials can sometimes change delivery dates for the country to avoid disrupting vaccine projects in other countries. However, this is not enough when vaccine suppliers around the world are planning to meet demand. Accordingly, Cytiva, Pall and Thermo Fisher are expanding their production space in the US and abroad. Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine. Photo: AP. Thermo Fisher urged customers to clarify which needs are urgent and which can wait. Even so, Mr. Lagarde said the company still tries to fulfill orders even if they are not considered a priority. Cytiva also announced it is expanding production, but the process will be limited by raw material shortages. “The world is experiencing unprecedented demand for biopharmaceutical products, technologies and solutions,” said Cytiva.

According to the news agency DW The final decision on whether or not to give up the copyright for the COVID-19 vaccine will be decided by the 164-member World Trade Organization (WTO). Of these, more than 100 countries have supported negotiations towards the abolition of measures to protect intellectual property rights with the COVID-19 vaccine. However, as long as a country disagrees, the WTO cannot approve this proposal. However, there are still countries that oppose the US move. Press conference on this issue on May 6, a spokesman for the German government warned that this would make pharmaceutical companies and biotech companies lose motivation to research and develop vaccines, negatively impacting. the entire vaccine industry in general. Therefore “the protection of intellectual property is a resource for creativity and must be maintained in the future”. The waiver of the vaccine license does not help much in the goal of increasing world vaccination coverage. The reason, “the factors that limit the number of vaccines vaccinated are production capacity and quality standards, not the copyright story”. Protect effort and gi Oh degree ng l Ugh c research According to radio CNN In the current context, giving up intellectual property rights with vaccines is a very complicated problem. A vaccine that has been successfully researched and developed is a collection of a series of different ingredients and materials and each ingredient and ingredient is copyrighted by at least one company or researcher. wisdom. For example, inside the vaccine company Pfizer (USA) and Biotechnology Company BioNTech (Germany) produces 280 ingredients and materials are licensed from many parties from 19 countries. Once a waiver scenario occurs, anyone can freely access and use the ingredients and ingredients in this vaccine – causing significant damage to Pfizer, BioNTech and others. holding the copyrights of those ingredients and materials. Medical staff in the capital Berlin (Germany) prepare the vials of vaccines to be vaccinated in April. Photo: DW “A single dose of vaccine contains all intellectual property from licensing agreements, copyrights, industrial designs to trade secret protection laws, patent secrets. If the copyright for the COVID-19 vaccine is abandoned, how can this be enforced? ” – Intellectual property rights expert Achal Prabhala of the Shuttleworth Foundation (South Africa) analyzed. Mr. Prabhala also affirmed that intellectual copyright is the backbone of the entire pharmaceutical and medical industry because it is difficult and time-consuming to research and create a product that is safe to use in humans. The recognition and protection of copyright is a way of respecting the efforts of researchers. The risk of technology secrets disclosure Another equally important issue when it comes to vaccine licensing issues is the protection of vaccine technology and formulation. Currently, Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna (USA) are the pharmaceutical companies and technology companies leading the use of new generation mRNA technology to significantly increase the effectiveness of vaccines. This technology is also evaluated to be highly applicable not only in the prevention of COVID-19 but also in other diseases in the future. Meanwhile, pharmaceutical companies in Russia or China have not fully applied this technology; Vaccines that these countries produce and put into use do not have mRNA technology, so the effectiveness level is also somewhat not as high. “Pfizer and Moderna took years of research to develop these vaccines. China and Russia and other countries both want to access it. Their goal is to possess the underlying technology to make vaccines not only to prevent COVID-19 but also for other diseases, ”said former US Ambassador to China Gary Locke. Reuters . In the event that the vaccine rights are abandoned, Beijing will likely force the above-mentioned pharmaceutical firms to hand over the technology if they want to operate in the Chinese market. On the other hand, Beijing may also ask other companies to generate income for such information without fear of being criticized for stealing foreign company secrets. If pharmaceutical companies refuse to provide information, they will face many legal consequences. Remember, intellectual property rights have been a big question between the US and China for many years now, and has been one of the main reasons for the outbreak of the US-China trade war in 2018. • EU completed a contract to buy 1.8 billion vaccine money Associated Reuters May 10 quoted Mr. Thierry Breton – Commissioner in charge of industry and domestic markets the European Union (EU) said that this bloc will not continue to buy vaccine COVID-19 by the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca (UK-Switzerland). Swedish) production. The reason AstraZeneca has not met its commitment to supply vaccines to the EU. By the end of the first quarter of 2021, the EU received only 67 million doses of vaccine from AstraZeneca, although the initial target was 300 million doses. It is expected that in the second quarter, the EU will receive an additional 250 million doses. The remaining 280 million doses will be delivered to the EU by AstraZeneca during the last six months of 2021. In addition to legal disputes with the EU, AstraZeneca’s vaccine reputation has also deteriorated due to information related to adverse reactions. Some European countries such as Denmark have stopped using AstraZeneca’s vaccine, while in most other countries in the region, this vaccine is only used for people over 55 years old. After discontinuing the contract with AstraZeneca, the EU plans to order more vaccines using mRNA technology such as Pfizer / BioNTech or Moderna. In fact, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said over the weekend that the EU has officially completed a contract to buy up to 1.8 billion doses of Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine over the next two years.

US Trade Representative Katherine Tai. (Source: agnetwest.com)

US Trade Representative Katherine Tai April 15 said international trade activities have prompted many countries to reduce environmental protection measures to attract investment, and regulations on global trade is necessary to prevent the “race to the bottom.”

“Race to the bottom” is a socio-economic term to describe the government’s deregulation of the business environment, or reduction of tax rates, in order to attract or maintain economic activity.

In her speech at the Center for American Progress, Ms. Tai said the notion that environmental problems are not part of trade ignores the fact that existing rules of globalization encourage less pressure. for environmental protection. This puts countries with higher environmental standards at a competitive disadvantage.

Speaking ahead of the online climate change summit on President Joe Biden’s initiative next week, Ms. Tai said she was committed to strengthening rules within the World Trade Organization (WTO). to combat problems like illegal fishing and overfishing.

According to her, countries should use commercial policies and trade enforcement actions to protect forests, because “forests are considered the lungs of the Earth.”

However, these regulations will be ineffective if they are not enforced. In the future, trade plays a role in preventing the “race to the bottom” and encouraging the “race to the top” (for the environment).

Ms. Tai noted that this is only done on a global scale through global regulations.

In the context that the world is deviating from meeting the goals of limiting global warming, many countries have signed in the Paris Agreement on Climate Change 2015, President Biden hopes next week’s summit will deliver stronger commitments ahead of the UN-hosted Climate Change Conference in Glasgow later this year.

Just days after taking office in January 2021, the US leader signed executive orders he said would “advance ambitious plans to respond to the threat of climate change.”

Mr. Biden announced that Washington will rejoin the Paris Agreement on climate change and is expected to announce an ambitious emission target by 2030./.