RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Carlos Alberto Franco França said during a public hearing that the measure does not benefit Brazil. On Wednesday, May 5th, the United States announced support for breaking patents to speed up vaccine production.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos Alberto Franco França said on Thursday, May 6th, that Brazil is opposed to breaking patents on raw materials and vaccines used in the fight against Covid-19.
The minister’s answer, during a public hearing in the Senate, comes a day after the U.S. changed its position and announced support for a suspension of patent protection for vaccines in order to expedite the production and distribution of immunizers worldwide.
However, the Brazilian Foreign Minister said that Brazil will analyze the new American position and stated that, if it is in the country’s interest, the government may change its mind.
The patent-breaking initiative emerged in November last year and involves a group of developing countries, led by South Africa and India, within the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Brazil, which traditionally supported the breaking of patents for medicines – such was the case with HIV drugs, for example – has positioned itself against the suspension in the case of anti-Covid vaccines, in line with the stance adopted by the U.S. government during Donald Trump’s administration.
The UK, Switzerland, and other European nations are also against patent breaking.
The debate over breaking the patent on Covid vaccines gains momentum amid laboratories’ challenges in guaranteeing the supply of doses and poorer countries’ lack of access to the immunizers.
França further said he has been told that the European Union will follow the American position and support the measure.
“Earlier today, colleagues from our embassy mission in Geneva at the WTO, Ambassador Alexandre Parola, asked me to report: ‘Look, the EU (European Union) has adopted the U.S. position’,” he said during the hearing.
Justification
According to the Brazilian Foreign Minister, the main bottleneck today for access to vaccines and raw materials are the material production capacity limitations, not the parameters related to the breach of intellectual property.
“The government’s opinion was, or still is – this is it, its position hasn’t changed – that the so-called third proposal, the third way, can be considered the greatest gain,” he said.
“The goal is the appropriate enforcement of the provisions already set forth [in the legislation] in order to facilitate local production of the Covid vaccines and greater access to them by developing countries,” he explained.
The Minister emphasized that Brazil continues advocating the application of legislation that currently allows the relaxation of intellectual property laws to increase production and access to immunizers, without the need to break patents.
Benefit to Brazil
The Minister also pointed out that a patent breach does not favor Brazil because the country does not have vaccine and medicine production parks capable of benefiting from the measure.
França stated that vaccines are “virtually impossible to copy in the short or medium term without the support of the laboratories that developed them, even with the help of a patent” and noted that countries count on a moratorium applicable to all kinds of intellectual property, which has not ensured the supply of immunizers.
Source: G1