Civil bodies call for a real TRIPS waiver

More than 150 civil society organisations have urged the trade ministers, who are currently negotiating the draft ministerial decision on the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), not to accept the current text.

People's Vaccine Alliance, Oxfam, Section27 of South Africa, Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and many others have sent a letter to the ministers, saying that the current negotiating text represented backsliding that could set a negative precedent for access to medicines and medical tools.

The groups requested governments to adopt a real TRIPS waiver that would adequately address intellectual property on all essential Covid-19 medical technologies.