The World Health Organization is moving to reboot its intellectual property sharing scheme as vaccine shortages threaten poorer nations’ attempts to emerge from the pandemic and as the debate over patents intensifies.
In a letter published on Thursday, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Costa Rican president Carlos Alvarado Quesada called on member states to engage with vaccine manufacturers to encourage IP sharing and tech transfer through the scheme.
“The single most important priority of the global community is to stop the pandemic in its tracks, to halt its rapid transmission and reverse the trend of consequential global distress,” they wrote. “We know that this goal is only achievable when everyone, everywhere, can access the health technologies they need for Covid-19 detection, prevention, treatment and response.”