Germany rejects proposal to waive patent protection for COVID vaccines, "IP is a source of innovation"
- Thread starter RastaMentality
- Start date
There should probably rules around the patent waving to kill any slippery slope arguments about future profits.
How many lives need to be saved by said thing to wave patent rights, is a gross question but 10000% in a discussion about the "worth" of a patent.
Ideally, all pharma research would be nationalized and medicine would become soft power, encouraging deplomacy.
How many lives need to be saved by said thing to wave patent rights, is a gross question but 10000% in a discussion about the "worth" of a patent.
Ideally, all pharma research would be nationalized and medicine would become soft power, encouraging deplomacy.
I love that in the rare case the US steps up to do the right thing on an international level, someone else in the West is more than willing to play bad cop
Belgium is also against it apparently which means its dead in the water in the council and WTO
Would making it free save more lives in Germany? How? There is universal healthcare. Just by making it free doesn't mean there is going to be more vaccines available faster. Or am I missing something.
Not defending this IP decision, by the way.
"IP is a source of innovation" as millions die.. This is the real life version of that post-apocalyptic meme of the exec telling kids about how he grew profit for people for a brief time.
Well well how the turn tables.
I hope the german people can pressure their government. This is a really good initiative by the US govt.
I hope the german people can pressure their government. This is a really good initiative by the US govt.
As a German: Fuck this.
But also, who exactly is "Germany" in this tweet? Like, which governmental body made this decision, exactly? The tweet doesn't really provide any proper information. At any rate, I'm sure the CDU/CSU and also the SPD are fine with (or even behind) this bullshit.
But also, who exactly is "Germany" in this tweet? Like, which governmental body made this decision, exactly? The tweet doesn't really provide any proper information. At any rate, I'm sure the CDU/CSU and also the SPD are fine with (or even behind) this bullshit.
My understanding is that it would enable other drug makers to produce the vaccine, effectively increasing production capacities massively. Considering the fact that this pandemic is, by definition, global, it won't be over until we have proper vaccination rates across the globe. The virus will continue to mutate otherwise (which it likely will do anyway but the more we can stop this the better for all of us).
This comes directly from Merkel
Germany rejects US push to waive COVID vaccine patents | DW | 06.05.2021
The German government said while they support global vaccine supplies, "the protection of intellectual property is a source of innovation and must remain so in the future."
www.dw.com
They will all put profits over everything. The U.S. just gives them an easy cover in most instances.
You can't just pour new ingredients in your machines and go at it. They would need to go thru the whole validation process, in that time others would have already made a billion more doses.
From the tweet it sounds like they don't want to waive IPs in general.
Probably fear places won't even care anymore if they start waiving.
I feel like they need to pressure the developers to waive costs or help others manufacture it. I don't know if the gov stepping in and removing the IP rights is the right move.
Probably fear places won't even care anymore if they start waiving.
I feel like they need to pressure the developers to waive costs or help others manufacture it. I don't know if the gov stepping in and removing the IP rights is the right move.
Well, obviously. But some facilities claim they are ready to go. If producing "a billion more doses" were that fast we'd be swimming in them already.
AstraZeneca also claimed a lot and we all know how that turned out.
Wouldn't be any different to the ones that are "ready to go".
Biotech/ Pfizer expect 2,5billion doses this year. Their ramp up is growing faster then if a company started their ramp up now.
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Ignoring the obvious moral implications for a second, how is this logical in any way even IF they are out for profit? If the world can not get this virus under control quickly, the economies even of western countries will not recover because mutations will make this impossible. Bad for EVERY economy on the planet, theirs included.
As i understand their argument is it took Biontech months to alter an production line from an existing plant to get production going.
So their reasoning seems to be that their is no short term gain in temporarily waving Patents and it would kill the incentive for future research endeavors.
Just answering your question, not defending their argument...
Uh, what? Astra Zeneca has been used successfully in many, many, many cases.
Also, well, of course they should inspect those facilities before giving them the green light. Like, what are you arguing against? If they are deemed ready to go, they should get going. Lives are at stake.
I think the issue he is referring to is that the factories that capable of producing the vaccine are already at max capacity. Existing factories would need to be modified or whole new ones would need to be built to increase capacity and that could take months or years. So even if the IP is waived, no one can immediately step in start producing their own.
Now in the long run, releasing the IP protection could be beneficial. We'll be needing vaccines for years to come and having as many companies make their own could be good but I really don't know personally in the long run.
Germany is the de facto leader of the EU, so this might as well be the EU saying this. What happened to the benevolent EU?
Imo they want a reason to not share their doses with the world. Knowing well that no one can easily, in the short term produce anything.
But saying "hey its IP free now, make it yourself" is a easy way to hold on to your doses and look like the hero.
This is the reality of the situation. The idea that countries would all the sudden start investing in the needed industry and infrastructure if they only had the IP was always highly questionable. If countries already had the capacity, then licensing of vaccines to suitable manufacturers was already a thing that was happening.
However, the geopolitics of it all also matter. Yes, you cannot have a world where the research park countries give away their products (innovation) for free and the workshop countries manufacture the goods using the innovation and sell them to the people of the research park countries. That's why IP law exists.
But this isn't a normal set of intellectual properties-these are vaccines that are every country's best way out of the economic and social crush of the pandemic. You don't build worldwide trust in western liberal democracies by even remotely looking like you're hoarding the cure, and you give those countries a chance-if they are up for the challenge-to prove you wrong and set up crash vaccine programs, repurposing existing industry to meet the need. Most won't, and would be better served with exports, but when you deny them agency to do so you can't expect that they'll trust you much in the future.
That is a fair point if there truly are no factories out there that could start producing once the IP rights have been waived. It is my understanding that those factories exist though but please don't quote me on this.
Anyway, my personal opinion on this is: If there are more factories out there that are capable of producing more vaccines, they should do this ASAP. The longer the virus spreads and mutates, the less likely are we, as humanity, to get rid of it for good.
I was making a snarky remark about the promised production capability.
People are acting like COVID vaccines are not going to be needed decades and decades to come. Holding on to the patent is securing profits until COVID-19 is essentially eradicated, which may never happen within our lifetimes.
I'm going to point out again, India has a vaccine completely home made, if it really wanted to fire a shot, waive IP on that.
Volvo invented the modern seatbelt. They let everyone use it because they valued the lives it would save over profits. Shame others don't act in a similar way more often.
www.forbes.com
Volvo’s Gift To The World, Modern Seat Belts Have Saved Millions Of Lives
Swedish engineer Nils Bohlin's invention has been used by billions and has saved countless lives. The three-point seat belt is a radical innovation that has transformed road safety forever, but it proved surprisingly difficult for Volvo to achieve mass adoption for this "no-brainer" safety feature.
www.forbes.com