US Lifts Covid Vaccine Patent Protections, Moroccan Groups Applaud Move

This decision to exempt Covid-19 vaccines from intellectual property rights taken by the United States is considered "historic" by associations fighting for access to health such as AMDH, OMDH, ALCS, ITPC MENA, FMAS, CMJC, AHSUD...

In a statement, they affirm that "this decision is a recognition of the legitimate struggle that began in July 2020 by scientists". The collective recalled the alert to parliament on the need to act quickly to optimize the national response to COVID-19 by urgently putting in place legislative mechanisms to address the legal barriers impacting access to care against covid-19 and epidemics in general.

"This historic decision follows the strong mobilization of NGOs and scientists as well as the request filed with the World Trade Organization (WTO) by India and South Africa in October 2020 and the note addressed to the member states of the WTO TRIPS Council, for the waiver of certain provisions of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights in order to facilitate the prevention, containment and treatment of COVID-19," the collective believes.

The temporary waiver will allow companies that did not develop the vaccine to manufacture them without special authorization.