Political Dialogue Lifts TRIPS Waiver Talks, Geneva Trade Bureaucracy Undermines It

Newsletter Edition #116 [The Friday Deep Dives]

Hi,

Today we present you the final edition for 2021!

This week is a tale of two briefings. One by WHO, showing the signs of pressure under the fast-spreading Omicron variant that has flummoxed even the hardened, weather-beaten infectious disease fighters; and the second by the industry reveling in a self-congratulatory tone albeit somewhat overshadowed by the spectre of failure due to vaccine inequities.

Our analysis this week takes stock of the discussions around the TRIPS Waiver. While the year is not over yet, the fact that WTO members have not been able to reach a decision on this proposal after a year of persuasion by the developing world (and some rich states) is one of the gnawing policy failures in Geneva plaguing the world in this hour of crisis.

We are aghast at the dishonest narratives on vaccine hesitancy in poorer countries and untruths about vaccine production numbers that collectively divert attention away from the ways to solve inequities in the access to medical products.

Between all these power brokers, are lives everywhere falling through the huge gaps in our response to this pandemic.

There is no reason to hope that 2022 will be vastly different. We will be back next year to track policy motivations in Global Health Geneva.

Thank you for reading and your engagement in this tumultuous year.

Best wishes.

Until next year!

Priti

Feel free to write to us: patnaik.reporting@gmail.com or genevahealthfiles@protonmail.com; Follow us on Twitter: @filesgeneva

---

1. Political Dialogue Lifts TRIPS Waiver talks, Geneva Trade Bureaucracy Undermines It

In August 2021, discussions on the waiver had to be stalled because Geneva was going on a summer break. Now, nearly half a year later, with a raging infectious variant of SARS-CoV-2 and on the wreckage of anticipation around a ministerial conference that now stands postponed indefinitely, discussions on the waiver are stalling again because of the Christmas break.

Upwards of five million deaths from COVID-19 have failed to dislodge entrenched positions on intellectual property at the World Trade Organization. Some critics believe that the WTO is on the brink of irrelevance, that can some how in a curious way be salvaged by the temporary suspension of legal rules of one of its multilateral agreements – the TRIPS agreement.

So dire is the crisis, that the inaction on decisively addressing this crisis, led to the postponement of the WTO ministerial conference - consumed by the very flames lit by this pandemic, which the TRIPS waiver proposal seeks to quell. It upended negotiators’ travels on both sides of the debate.

But many wonder, given the acute crisis and unprecedented events, can the organization not adapt to the realities, to negotiate and agree on taking a decision on the waiver in a virtual manner? Why can’t ministers be brought together on thematic issues, in the absence of a ministerial, some ask.

Developing country negotiators are of the view that the Geneva trade bureaucracy has contributed to stalling the progress on the discussions for the waiver even at this delicate hour.

It is important to meet in person to negotiate and agree, say those who believe that informal consultations between members would help achieve consensus and breakthroughs.

At the time when the ministerial conference was cancelled and postponed indefinitely, there was a lot of momentum between members to push for an urgent decision on the TRIPS waiver. That was three weeks ago. “Precious time was lost. We are being shown process considerations, in order to get an agreement on the waiver”, a developing country negotiator told us.

Photo by Francesco Ungaro from Pexels