The Push for Equity, Discriminatory Travel Bans Dominate WHO Special Assembly; Omicron Brings the TRIPS Waiver Into Focus
Newsletter Edition #111 [The Weekly Primer]
Hi,
Late last Friday, it seemed as if the ground was giving way in the world of trade diplomacy. An emergency convening of the WTO General Council, resulted in the postponement of the much-awaited ministerial conference that was scheduled to begin today.
Dramatic as the events were, it was nevertheless to be expected, in the crazed new normal that this pandemic has ushered in. After all, it was only hours earlier, that WHO had classified a new variant detected by South Africa, as a variant of concern.
News of Southern and European negotiators unable to fly into Geneva for meetings at WHO and WTO, began to float on the streets in Geneva. Before midnight, it became clear that Geneva’s big week, will not be so big after all.
Although the ministerial conference has been deferred, the TRIPS Waiver will still likely dominate expectations from the WTO. Watch out for our podcast on the waiver later this week!
Notwithstanding the anti-climax at WTO, we are here in the midst of WHO’s Special Session of the World Health Assembly.
Equity has become buzzword, a term that is central to the success of the negotiations for a new legal instrument. We hope that it will not go down the road of the word “solidarity” - a term full of promise, but one that delivered so little.
Check out our exclusive from last week on the decision text that is set to be adopted by the WHASS: Destination undecided, but countries divided over legal route for new WHO instrument. Write to us with your thoughts on these ambitious changes sweeping global health in Geneva.
Also, I am happy to be a part of this event, hosted by my alma mater later this week! Join us online for this important conversation: Options, Outcomes And Opportunities: Reflecting On The WHA Special Session. Consider becoming paying subscribers to help us meet the costs of this relentless reporting.
Until Friday!
Best,
Priti
Feel free to write to us: patnaik.reporting@gmail.com or genevahealthfiles@protonmail.com; Follow us on Twitter: @filesgeneva
I. POLICY UPDATES
HEALTH / WHO
WORLD HEALTH ASSEMBLY SPECIAL SESSION
WHO member states have gathered to adopt a critical decision that will likely launch the negotiations for a new legal instrument to govern health emergencies.
The Special Session of the World Health Assembly, the second in the history of WHO, has convened in the back drop of the detection of the new variant of SARS-CoV-2 and the resulting barriers it has erected on the fertile ground of health security concerns.
The highly contentious and political negotiations on the decision text and the preceding discussions in the Working Group on Strengthening WHO Preparedness and Response to Health Emergencies, had already showed the difficult path member states have traversed in order to come to a consensus on the way ahead for new rules.
Statements made by many member states at the Special Assembly illustrate the rich diversity in countries' positions revealing a wide spectrum on where member states stand on the various legal options ahead to frame new rules to govern health emergencies. Countries called for transparency and inclusiveness in the negotiations of new rules.
Developing countries have categorically stated that addressing inequities is central to the effectiveness of a new instrument, demonstrating their reason for supporting new rules to govern health emergencies. Even in these early stages it is obvious that the success of these negotiations will hinge on having binding commitments on equity.
It will remain to be seen when discussions go down to the wire, whether member states will make deep concessions on their positions on ensuring equity including on intellectual property and sharing benefits from the access to information, for example.
In his opening remarks at the session, DG Tedros seemed to suggest that, one of the fundamental weaknesses in the global architecture for pandemic preparedness and response was voluntary mechanisms, apart from complex and fragmented governance, inadequate financing and insufficient systems and tools. He called for a legally binding agreement to address these challenges.
In a statement India said, new rules must address the barriers to development and distribution of medical countermeasures; research and development, Intellectual Property, tech transfer, scaling up local & regional manufacturing capacity during emergencies.
Another clear message emerging from the on-going Assembly is the strong political support enjoyed by International Health Regulations. Many member states underscored the importance and centrality of the IHRs in responding to health emergencies. This is even as, many member states have endorsed the decision to launch negotiations for a new instrument.
China, Brazil, Jamaica, Denmark, Russia, Malaysia, among other countries highlighted the role of the IHRs . Many called for coherence and complimentarity to any new instrument. The U.S. also called for targeted amendments of the IHRs.
Brazil said that the IHRs are a solid instrument, while remaining open to new legal rules. Brazil also expressed its willingness to be a part of the Inter-governmental Negotiating Body.
China noted the wide divergence on the way forward and said that IHRs remained the core of emergency response.
A number of Southern African countries including South Africa, Botswana protested against the imposition of travel restrictions as a result of the detection of the new variant Omicron. Botswana said that countries must incentivise detection and response, not impose travel measures.
South Africa hoped that new instrument will address the imposition of punitive travel measures in the context of pandemic preparedness and response. (South Africa is an early endorser of the treaty and is part of the Friends of the Treaty group alongside the EU).
In its statement, Russia categorically opposed the creation of mechanisms that would undermine centrality of WHO and emphasized the role of IHRs. New instrument must not threaten existing rules, Russia said.
In her statement at the opening ceremony where she welcomed the decision to launch negotiations for new rules for health emergencies, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, said “I also support targeted improvements to the 2005 International Health Regulations, an overall strengthening of the WHO, and the establishment of a new financial intermediary fund for global health security and pandemic preparedness.”
During the session so far, member states seemed to dwell more on the substantive elements of the new rules. There were not as many references to using the contentious Article 19, opt-in approach in the WHO Constitution, for the new rules, suggesting a long road ahead on arriving at the eventual legal route for new rules.
Also see: Europe Cannot ‘Treaty’ its Way Out of the Pandemic by Unni Karunakara in Health Policy Watch
WHO
THE OMICRON VARIANT: Enhancing Readiness for Omicron (B.1.1.529): Technical Brief and Priority Actions for Member States
Airfinity: Limited supply of new Omicron vaccines for most of next year
First meeting of Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO)
TRADE / WTO
OMICRON BRINGS THE TRIPS WAIVER INTO FOCUS
The 12th Ministerial Conference set to begin today, was expected to redeem the WTO, and restore faith among its members as a strong rule-making multilateral organization where solutions to global challenges can be forged.
But the pandemic had other plans. The detection and emergence of a new variant named Omicron upended the ministerial conference, that now stands postponed and expected to convene in March 2022.
Apart from the overall expectations from the ministerial for international trade, for global health this meant continued uncertainty around WTO’s response to the pandemic. Specifically, the outcomes on the TRIPS Waiver, that was supposed to be negotiated at the political level at the ministerial.
Moving quickly after the set back over the weekend, when travel restrictions froze plans of negotiators traveling to Geneva, the TRIPS Council met on Monday to discuss next steps.
At the meeting, WTO members decided to continue consultations on the proposal by South Africa, India, and the proposal by EU, sources familiar with the developments said.
Members want to continue with the momentum and to find an outcome "under the changed circumstances". Members have agreed to keep this agenda open so that the TRIPS Council can be convened at short notice.
Small group consultations are expected to continue, with next Council meetings scheduled on the 10th and 16th December and possibly earlier, according to trade officials.
TRIPS Council Chair, Norwegian Ambassador Dagfinn Sørli, urged members to continue work without the "political input" from ministers.
South Africa is reported to have said that TRIPS waiver - WTO's intellectual property response to the pandemic is the most important issue facing the organization. South Africa also pointed out that the waiver can be adopted at the General Council, outside of the ministerial conference.
United States has said that it will work with other members to find areas of convergence. (Here is a recent statement from the Biden administration prior to the postponement of the ministerial). But activists remain skeptical on the role of the US in these discussions.
(Also see: ‘All talk and no walk’: America ain’t back at the WTO - Politico)
At the meeting, the EU reportedly said it is keen on finding a landing zone in these discussions. EU believes that while it is important to increase production and diversification of COVID-19 products, it was important to maintain incentives for technology transfer and investment in innovation, sources said.
(See this update from Third World Network on the EU and the ministerial conference. Also, Omicron outbreak turns up heat on EU over vaccine access: Politico)
Some news reports suggested that Norway and Switzerland were open to considering support to elements in the waiver proposal.
At the WHO Special Session, several countries including Pakistan urged opposing member states to support the TRIPS Waiver at the WTO. (It added that discussions on a pandemic treaty must go hand in hand with the waiver discussions.)
A number of other developing countries referred to the TRIPS Waiver in the discussions at WHO for a new legal instrument to govern health emergencies.
In the absence of the ministerial, WTO members will need to consider the TRIPS Waiver, potentially in isolation, and not relative to other deliverables (fisheries, agriculture, WTO reforms) that were linked to the conference. This could to some extent reduce the leverage of the proponents of the waiver. At the same time, it also builds pressure on opposing countries to arrive at a consensus on the waiver proposal outside of the ministerial, in addition to the detection of the new variant of SAR-CoV-2 that has affected supply chains of medical products yet again.
While there is an expectation that the waiver should be considered and approved at the General Council in the interest of time, without waiting for the Ministerial to convene, trade sources suggest that the likelihood of that happening is remote. “The EU and others, will want to discuss the waiver relative to other outcomes,” a developing country diplomat told us.
In addition, the overall WTO’s response to the pandemic, is potentially another negotiating forum, to discuss the waiver proposal. (See here on concerns around this process.). It is understood that the General Council is discussing this today.
(Watch out for a podcast on the TRIPS Waiver from Geneva Health Files later this week!)
II. WHAT WE FOUND INTERESTING
My colleague Rithika has put this together for you:
NEWS:
Scientists are studying whether Omicron leads to severe illness.: The New York Times
The inside story of the Pfizer vaccine: ‘a once-in-an-epoch windfall’: Financial Times
China's Xi pledges another 1 bln COVID-19 vaccine doses for Africa: Reuters
Failure to share Covid vaccines ‘coming back to haunt us’, says Gordon Brown: The Guardian
Omicron collaboration shows need for pathogen sharing deal: Financial Times
Developing nations may give up on the WTO for good if it won’t budge on vaccine patents: The Guardian
Vaccine squabble tests global trade ties as WTO meeting postponed: Politico
WTO’s Future Grows Cloudier in a World Shattered By Covid: Bloomberg
World Trade Referee’s Rebirth Descends Into a Fight for Survival: Bloomberg
Pfizer says former employee stole trade secrets on megablockbuster COVID-19 vaccine: Fierce Pharma
The Case Against a Pandemic Treaty: Think Global Health
What the new German government could mean for development: Devex
Universal health coverage target getting farther away: Dhaka Tribune
Even Health-Care Workers With Long COVID Are Being Dismissed: The Atlantic
Billionaire Bill Gates Uses Money to Shape the Media: Jacobin
Healthcare organizations condemn Israeli decision to designate human rights NGOs as “terrorist organizations”: BMJ Global Health
Are management consultants the best people to solve the challenges of Covid-19?: Apolitical
Nurses' Unions of 28 Nations Complain to UN Against Rich Countries' TRIPS Waiver Reluctance
JOURNALS/REPORTS
Compulsory licensing vs. the IP waiver: what is the best way to end the COVID-19 pandemic?: South Centre
How the Vaccine Rich Get Richer: Public Citizen
Covid-19 preparedness and response: Implications for future pandemics: BMJ
III. WHAT WE ARE WATCHING
WHO: World Health Assembly Special Session: 29 November - 1 December
Gavi Board Meeting: 30 November - 2 December
IV. TWEET OF THE WEEK
South African researcher Tulio de Oliveira, at the Center for Epidemic Response and Innovation
Pardon my indulgence: Me on the two sides of consensus in Geneva
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