Big Pharma’s EU Lobbying Could Spell Disaster for Global South Vaccine Waivers
Pharma giants have spent big on lobbying European Union officials over vaccine waivers. It’s paid off: now key European power brokers oppose suspending global vaccine patents to fight the pandemic in the Global South.
German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Emmanuel Macron speak to the media on February 5, 2021 in Berlin, Germany. (Sean Gallup / Getty Images)
The Biden administration’s newfound support for waiving intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines could prove to be a turning point in the fight against the pandemic and a major step forward for health care access in the Global South. But before that, the effort needs to overcome a hefty roadblock: hostility from the European Union.
Any legally binding suspension of global patents on vaccines requires unanimous support from the World Trade Organization’s commission on IP rights, better known as the TRIPS Council, slated to meet June 8–9 in Geneva. While the United States said in May that it was finally interested in negotiating a proposal to do just that, signs suggest the European Commission — the executive branch of the EU, which has forged close ties with the pharmaceutical industry — will likely continue to oppose a proposed waiver on vaccines.
Pharmaceutical interests have become one of the biggest lobbying forces in Europe, according to spending disclosures reviewed by the Daily Poster.
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