IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cog/poango/v11y2023i1p261-271.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The WTO and the Covid‐19 “Vaccine Apartheid”: Big Pharma and the Minefield of Patents

Author

Listed:
  • Stéphane Paquin

    (École nationale d’administration publique, Université du Québec, Canada)

  • Kristine Plouffe-Malette

    (Faculté de droit, Université de Sherbrooke, Canada)

Abstract

Unequal access to vaccines for the Covid-19 pandemic, also referred to as “vaccine apartheid,” has marginalized low-income countries again. In October 2020, India and South Africa proposed a temporary waiver from certain provisions of the TRIPS Agreement for the prevention of Covid-19 at the World Trade Organization (WTO). An agreement was later reached in Geneva on June 17, 2022. The objective of this article is to analyze the negotiation and agreement reached at the WTO. This article explores the difficulties of creating international public good in the field of public health within the milieu of powerful actors, namely big pharmaceutical companies with vested interests. The central argument of this article is that this agreement alone will not solve the vaccine access problem for low-income countries. It is too restrictive, does not cover trade secrets and know-how, production capacity, availability of raw materials, and even adds new limitations that did not exist before. The best option to promote the production of quality vaccines in low-income countries is to share technology and know-how on a voluntary basis through production agreements. One way to facilitate the cooperation of large pharmaceutical corporation is to make it easier for low-income countries to use compulsory licenses. Simplifying the use of this mechanism could help encourage pharmaceutical companies to enter into voluntary licensing agreements.

Suggested Citation

  • Stéphane Paquin & Kristine Plouffe-Malette, 2023. "The WTO and the Covid‐19 “Vaccine Apartheid”: Big Pharma and the Minefield of Patents," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(1), pages 261-271.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v11:y:2023:i:1:p:261-271
    DOI: 10.17645/pag.v11i1.6177
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/6177
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17645/pag.v11i1.6177?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ruggie, John Gerard, 1982. "International regimes, transactions, and change: embedded liberalism in the postwar economic order," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 36(2), pages 379-415, April.
    2. Alberto Galasso & Mark Schankerman, 2014. "Patents and Cumulative Innovation: Causal Evidence from the Courts," NBER Working Papers 20269, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stéphane Paquin & Kristine Plouffe-Malette, 2023. "The WTO and the Covid‐19 “Vaccine Apartheid”: Big Pharma and the Minefield of Patents," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(1), pages 261-271.
    2. Dani Rodrik, 2018. "Populism and the economics of globalization," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 1(1), pages 12-33, June.
    3. Vigvári, Gábor, 2022. "Transzformáció és a populizmus a visegrádi országokban [Transformation and populism in the V4 countries]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(3), pages 339-366.
    4. Cohen, Joseph N., 2008. "Managing the Faustian bargain: monetary autonomy in the pursuit of development in Eastern Europe and Latin America," MPRA Paper 22435, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Alexander Kentikelenis & Erik Voeten, 2021. "Legitimacy challenges to the liberal world order: Evidence from United Nations speeches, 1970–2018," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 721-754, October.
    6. Sean D. Ehrlich & Christopher Gahagan, 2023. "The Multisided Threat to Free Trade: Protectionism and Fair Trade During Increasing Populism," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(1), pages 223-236.
    7. Nathan Jensen, 2007. "International institutions and market expectations: Stock price responses to the WTO ruling on the 2002 U.S. steel tariffs," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 2(3), pages 261-280, September.
    8. Michelle Egan, 2019. "EU Single Market(s) after Brexit," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(3), pages 19-29.
    9. Álvaro Santos, 2023. "International Investment Law in the Shadow of Populism: Between Redomestication and Liberalism Re‐Embedded," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(1), pages 203-213.
    10. Kono Daniel Y., 2011. "Insuring Free Trade: Unemployment Insurance and Trade Policy," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 13(3), pages 1-31, October.
    11. Michael Noel & Mark Schankerman, 2013. "Strategic Patenting and Software Innovation," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(3), pages 481-520, September.
    12. Adelle BLACKETT & Colleen SHEPPARD, 2003. "Collective bargaining and equality: Making connections," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 142(4), pages 419-457, December.
    13. Liesbet Hooghe & Tobias Lenz & Gary Marks, 2019. "Contested world order: The delegitimation of international governance," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 731-743, December.
    14. Nobuya FUKUGAWA, 2016. "Knowledge Creation and Dissemination by Local Public Technology Centers in Regional and Sectoral Innovation Systems: Insights from patent data," Discussion papers 16061, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    15. Nikitas Konstantinidis & Konstantinos Matakos & Hande Mutlu-Eren, 2019. "“Take back control”? The effects of supranational integration on party-system polarization," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 297-333, June.
    16. Hyman, Richard, 2015. "The very idea of democracy at work," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 65573, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    17. Cusack, Thomas R., 1995. "Partisan politics and public finance: changes in public spending in the industrialized democracies, 1955-1989," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Economic Change and Employment FS I 95-313, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    18. Harms, Philipp & Steiner, Nils, 2019. "The China Shock and the Nationalist Backlash against Globalization: Attitudinal Evidence from the British Household Panel Survey," VfS Annual Conference 2019 (Leipzig): 30 Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall - Democracy and Market Economy 203506, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    19. Kim, Minju & Gulotty, Robert, 2019. "Importing Threat: The Electoral Logic of Economic Relief," Working Papers 295, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State.
    20. Heidi L. Williams, 2016. "Intellectual Property Rights and Innovation: Evidence from Health Care Markets," Innovation Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(1), pages 53-87.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v11:y:2023:i:1:p:261-271. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: António Vieira or IT Department (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cogitatiopress.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.