Coronavirus: China gives nothing away on whether it supports waiving vaccine IP protections

Success of a proposed intellectual property waiver to ramp up global manufacturing may still depend on whether pharmaceutical firms share technical know-how

Chinese companies, especially those using advanced technologies, may have concerns about their own IP and want to protect it

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On a potential intellectual property waiver to help boost Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing, Beijing says it “looks forward to active and constructive discussions among all parties” within the WTO framework. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 11:00pm, 12 May 2021Updated: 2:43am, 13 May 2021

The debate over how to get enough supplies to vaccinate the world has pitted the Pope and the head of the World Health Organization against pharmaceutical executives, and seen developing countries resist the policies of wealthy nations.

The issue is whether Covid-19 vaccine makers should lose intellectual property (IP) protections in a bid to ramp up global manufacturing and expand access to doses in poorer countries.

The United States – a major vaccine producer that has so far kept most of its doses at home – threw its support behind waiving IP protections on Covid-19 vaccines in a surprise move last week. But questions remain about whether China, now the world’s largest exporter of doses, will do the same.

In comments on Thursday, foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin hedged, saying China “looks forward to active and constructive discussions among all parties within the framework of the World Trade Organization in a bid to achieve an effective and balanced result”.

The waiver proposal was originally put forward seven months ago by South Africa and India, who called for the temporary lifting of protections on all medical products to fight Covid-19.

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