The Biden Administration has announced that they will support waiving intellectual property (IP) protections for COVID-19 vaccines, a move that would grant countries struggling with coronavirus surges quicker access to lifesaving vaccine doses.
"This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures," United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai wrote in a statement. "The Administration believes strongly in intellectual property protections, but in service of ending this pandemic, supports the waiver of those protections for COVID-19 vaccines."
Tai further states that the Administration will coordinate with the private sectors to expand vaccine production and distribution while also working to increase access to the raw materials needed to create the doses. Tai's statement also noted that this decision was being made now that "our vaccine supply for the American people is secured".
This decision by the Administration has been met with praise from health officials and criticism from pharmaceutical companies, many of which have reported sharp revenue gains during the pandemic.
After the statement was released, shares of the lead producers of the vaccine dipped sharply. Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) shares fell 1.7%; BioNTech SE (NASDAQ: BNTX) fell 0.6%; Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) dropped 12% before rebounding to 1.3%; while Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) and AstraZeneca (NASDAQ: AZN) ended the day flat.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization's director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, called the decision a "monumental moment in the fight against COVID-19" and a sign of the "moral leadership" of the Administration.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a trade group that includes members such as AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson, came out in strong opposition to the Administration's decision, arguing that waiving IP protections would actually hurt the global vaccine rollout.
"In the midst of a deadly pandemic, the Biden Administration has taken an unprecedented step that will undermine our global response to the pandemic and compromise safety. This decision will sow confusion between public and private partners, further weaken already strained supply chains and foster the proliferation of counterfeit vaccines." Stephen J. Ubi, the group's president and CEO, told reporters.
The World Trade Organization is urging its members to quickly design an agreement allowing the temporary easing of IP protections. The agreement was proposed in October by India and South Africa, both of which are facing massive virus surges.
Over the weekend, India reported 400,000 new cases per day, bringing the country's cumulative cases to nearly 21 million, according to Johns Hopkins University. The recent spike may be caused by a new, more contagious variant of COVID-19 that originated in India before being found in several other countries, including the U.S.
"The Biden Administration understands that a pandemic doesn't respect boundaries and that what's happening in India has global public health implications. If it spread to Africa or Latin America to the levels ravaging India that many countries on those continents would collapse," Dewardic McNeal, an Obama-era policy analyst at the Defense Department wrote.
"This move is just good global public health policy," McNeal added.
The Administration has discussed a temporary IP protection waiver before, specifically on an April call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Just a few weeks ago Biden announced that the U.S. would give India access to the raw materials needed to produce vaccine doses.
Critics of a possible IP waiver claim that waiving protections will only harm American competitiveness while allowing China to "piggyback on U.S. innovation" without actually improving the vaccine rollout. Clete Willems, a former attorney at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, called the announcement a "huge misstep by the Biden Administration."
Instead, critics hope to keep the production of vaccines in the U.S., allowing the country to export vaccines and increase American jobs.
However, proponents like McNeal argue that waiving these protections is a way to show other countries that America is a good friend to have, particularly in comparison to China.
"There is no question that vaccine diplomacy has become a major part of the geopolitical competition," McNeal wrote. "This move will severely undercut the Chinese efforts to spread its vaccine (and influence) globally."
"If the U.S. doesn't move on something like this with India in particular, it begs the question for many U.S. allies and partners 'what's in it for us?'," he added.