The World Trade Organization is under pressure to waive rules protecting pharmaceutical patents in order to get more COVID-19 vaccines to more of the world more quickly.
India and South Africa, with the backing of 99 other countries and hundreds of advocacy groups, want the WTO to waive parts of the global agreement governing patent rights, allowing more manufacturers to make effective vaccines (or other treatments) without authorization from their developers. Activists argue the industry has been overly restrictive in the past, and note that development of COVID-19 vaccines has been backed by billions of dollars of public support in subsidies and guaranteed purchases.
The WTO normally reaches any agreement by consensus. The U.S., the U.K. and other affluent countries have rejected the proposal outright. They continue to block its progress, most recently at a discussion on Feb. 4.