South African President and Others Say "COVID-19 Vaccine Patents Should Not Be Recognized and Must Be Provided"

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] There has been a call to not apply patent rights to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) vaccines. Considering the circumstances of developing countries that cannot afford the costs even if vaccines are developed, a response at the level of humanity is necessary.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

On the 13th (local time), Cyril Ramaphosa, Chairperson of the African Union, urged through an open letter that patent rights should not be applied to COVID-19 vaccines to stop the pandemic in South Africa. The letter was signed by Imran Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan; Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former President of Brazil; Gordon Brown, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; and Joseph Stiglitz, professor at Columbia University in the United States, among others.

Eva Calondo, spokesperson for the African Union, stated, "Even if developing countries try to buy COVID-19 vaccines at market prices, wealthy countries will take the production shares, making it impossible for them to purchase," adding, "We believe that solidarity is the most realistic alternative in this fight that we cannot overcome alone."

Professor Jang Ha-joon of the University of Cambridge also signed this open letter. He mentioned, "There is a well-established precedent in the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements related to intellectual property rights that allows not recognizing patent rights in public health crisis situations."

President Ramaphosa evaluated the significance of the commitment by countries around the world to provide $8 billion (approximately 9.8 trillion KRW) to secure vaccines, treatments, and diagnostic kits, but also stated, "We cannot leave this enormous and moral mission solely to the market."

In this regard, he argued that the World Health Organization (WHO) should pressure for all COVID-19 related technologies to be mandatorily disclosed so that COVID-19 vaccines can be used worldwide.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.