India hit a daily record 401,993 cases last week, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, and is on track to overtake the US as the country with the most cumulative Covid-19 cases at more than 20 million. The global death toll surpassed 3 million last month.

WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called Tai’s announcement “a monumental moment in the fight against Covid-19.”

“I commend the United States on its historic decision for vaccine equity and prioritizing the well-being of all people everywhere at a critical time,” Tedros said.

Why the world should support IP right waivers for Covid-19 vaccines

Pressure had been mounting for the US to support an Indian and South African initiative at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to waive the body’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) to facilitate the production of vaccines and therapeutics developed to fight the disease.

However, the Biden administration’s support is likely to face resistance at home and abroad.

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‘A lot of people are going to die’: a frontline doctor’s account of Covid-19 crisis in India

‘A lot of people are going to die’: a frontline doctor’s account of Covid-19 crisis in India

A group of 12 Republican lawmakers including Jim Jordan of Ohio and Darrell Issa of California wrote a seven-page letter to Tai on Tuesday warning her not to support the IP waiver initiative.

“The waiver’s sponsors have introduced no convincing proof to assist this assertion. As an alternative, the sponsors primarily simply level out that related IP rights exist and speculate that these rights might function a barrier to entry to Covid-19 vaccines and coverings – not that IP rights have really blocked or considerably hindered their availability,” it added.

Why it’s in rich countries’ own interests to stop hoarding vaccines

Investors reacted to the announcement, with the share prices of Pfizer, Moderna, makers of the first two vaccines to roll out in the US, tumbling afterwards. Pfizer dropped to US$39.12 from an intraday high of US$41.09. Moderna tumbled to US$156.81 from US$180.70.

Moreover, the European Union, Britain, Japan, Switzerland, Brazil and Norway have so far resisted the IP waiver push.

The move has also been opposed by drug makers. They argue that few countries have the capacity to produce more vaccines even if they knew the formulas and have also pointed to limited global supply of the materials needed. They have also said building new factories with the necessary technology to produce the vaccines could take years.

Tai, who met virtually with executives of drug makers Pfizer and AstraZeneca to discuss the TRIPS waiver – without any result – acknowledged some of these hurdles in her statement.

“We will actively participate in text-based negotiations at the World Trade Organization” that will be needed to garner more support for the initiative, she said. “Those negotiations will take time given the consensus-based nature of the institution and the complexity of the issues involved.”

At a WTO meeting on Wednesday, India and South Africa agreed to revise their proposal to present to members for a meeting tentatively scheduled for the second half of May.

“The desperate needs that our people face in the current pandemic provide these companies with an opportunity to be the heroes they claim to be – and can be,” she said at a virtual conference at the WTO.

“As governments and leaders of international institutions, the highest standards of courage and sacrifice are demanded of us in times of crisis. The same needs to be demanded of industry.”

Additional reporting by Owen Churchill and Bloomberg