The government is now opening up to access more Govt vaccines to poorer countries: at next week’s WTO meeting, Norway will go more than ever to compromise.
– We have decided that Norway may support exemptions from the TRIPS Agreement on patents on Govt-19 vaccines, if it is part of a compromise, says Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt to VG.
Thus, she goes further in meeting the need from someone Number and pressure of poor countries From previous world leaders and Nobel laureates, it is about ignoring the patents held by pharmaceutical companies so that more people can develop important vaccines against the Kovit 19 virus.
Although countries like Norway have the opportunity to vaccinate everyone who can and wants to be vaccinated, only six percent of people in Africa are vaccinated.
See in the graphic below how far different countries have come in vaccination:
This is why South Africa called it the “Exemption Proposal” a year ago, which means that patents and other intellectual property rights for vaccines and other health products are being temporarily relaxed in the fight against Govt-19.
So far, there are in Norway and the European Union Opposed. The argument is that this is too far. But now Norway is ready to go one step further at the WTO ministerial meeting starting on Tuesday.
– The WTO needs a consensus, and we will try to compromise on this. This means that we can support an exemption from the TRIPS Agreement on Patents for Vaccines, says Huitfeldt.
– No one is safe as long as everyone is safe
In April, Dr. who will be negotiating with the World Trade Organization (WTO) in South Africa. VG spoke with Mustaqeem de Gama. The whole world said that Vaccine recipes will be severely affected if not shared with poor countries.
Now a new mutation, first seen in Botswana and confirmed and discovered by South African virologists, has led many countries to take action and stop flights. This variation has also been demonstrated in Europe.
– No one is safe as long as everyone is safe. Six percent of the population in African countries are vaccinated. We need to increase the proportion of people who are vaccinated for each. For their benefit, but also for us, says Huitfeldt.
But the situation surrounding the vaccine patent has been locked up for more than a year. Despite this A strong pressure The WTO and the countries that blocked the proposal led to the announcement of the United States this spring Agreed to accept the patent waiver For vaccines.
Development Minister Anne Beat Twinnerim (SP) tells Vijay that the US has not followed any of the proposals on the signal table.
– It will be in the direction that the US is signaling, but will never be formally tabled, says Tvinnereim about what Norway agrees on.
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– I hope it can create a new movement
The United States has said it is willing to accept a compromise solution: they are open to patent exemptions for vaccines, but not all other health products used in the fight against Govt-19, as recommended by South Africa.
– South Africa’s proposal is too far away, compromise must be somewhere in the middle. What we are saying now is that Norway wants to help find it, and we hope to create a whole new movement in these stalemate talks, which is characterized by increasingly weak trust between developing and Western countries, says Huitfeldt.
The EU has also come up with a separate compromise plan, which is described “Hot air”, By proposers from South Africa. But Norway will go much further than that.
– It goes far beyond the EU’s proposal because it will not be enough to reach a compromise. But it will certainly include the EU proposal, which today is already about compulsory licensing as an option in the TRIPS agreement. But it will not be where the compromise is, says Hoodfeld.
At the same time, the Foreign Minister emphasizes that if companies want to share vaccine recipes, it is not a miracle cure. Productivity should also increase.
– But if what we believe can accurately find a compromise, it will also indicate pressure on the pharmaceutical industry. Because they will notice the pressure in the international community, and it will help increase productivity and better dynamics, Tvinnereim adds:
– This is very, very demanding, and I understand that developing countries feel a bit abandoned. So I think the fact that we are now making a conciliatory effort will be crucial to the international dialogue on cowit management.
The Norwegian WTO Ambassador chaired the TRIPS Council at the WTO, which has been holding patent discussions since March. Huitfeldt says he has been given broad powers to contribute to an inter-state settlement next week.
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