MSF asks wealthy countries to adopt a TRIPS waiver

Medecins Sans Frontières (MSF), an international medical charity, has pushed high-income nations to adopt the major TRIPS waiver, claiming that it will assist boost access to Covid-19 vaccines as well as other medical equipment.

The reaction comes as the World Trade Organisation (WTO) prepares to hold talks on a TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) waiver this week. Patents or other intellectual-property (IP) monopoly over the much Covid-19 vaccines, treatments, testing, and other medical facilities would be temporarily lifted under a TRIPS waiver. According to MSF, more than 100 low- and middle-income nations support the waiver request.

The medical charity believes that the final TRIPS consent should cover not only vaccines, however all essential medical technologies, along with treatments & tests, and also that the waiver should last at least five years to enable for the preparation, scaling up, diversification, and sustainability of Covid-19 medical tools, including needed materials and components.

MSF encouraged the US to speed up the talks and widen the scope of its support to include medications and diagnostics in addition to vaccinations.

After being postponed last year due to the introduction of the Omicron form of coronavirus, the WTO TRIPS Council will meet this week. The MSF urged the European Union (EU), the United Kingdom (UK), and Switzerland to implement the historic waiver as soon as possible.

“It is heartbreaking for anyone to proceed to witness absurd inequity in connectivity to Covid-19 medical instruments in most of the low – and – middle countries in which we work, while richer nations, that have hoarded vaccines, now are buying up most of the stream of new treatments,” said YuanqiongHu, senior legal and policy advisor for MSF’s Access Campaign.

“The EU, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland should hear the plea of low- and middle-income countries to support this game-changing waiver that may boost access, local production, and self-sufficiency.”