GDP Center Publishes Policy Brief on COVID-19 Vaccination
The Global Development Policy (GDP) Center, an affiliated regional center at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, published a new policy brief exploring the shortcomings of the current approach to global vaccination for COVID-19.
According to the brief, titled “Vaccinating the World Waiving Intellectual Property Rules on COVID-19 Products,” a primary barrier to scaling up COVID-19 vaccine production is the collection of intellectual property rules relating to patents and technology transfers of key medical products. To this end, South Africa and India with the co-sponsorship of 56 other World Trade Organization (WTO) Members have proposed a waiver from specific provisions of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement for the prevention, containment and treatment of COVID-19 which has the backing of the majority (around 120) of WTO Members. However, a few Members have continued to block the waiver since its proposal last year, including the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Japan and Brazil.
The brief explains where the current approach to global COVID19 vaccination falls short, how a WTO TRIPS waiver could help overcome these challenges, and why the counterarguments to the waiver fall short.
The brief can be read on the GDP Center’s website.
The GDP Center is a university-wide research center affiliated with the Pardee School of Global Studies. The GDP Center’s mission is to advance policy-oriented research for financial stability, human well-being, and environmental sustainability. Visit the GDP Center’s website for more.