I hope this is the beginning not the end of US efforts to expand global vaccine manufacturing and that the waiver delivers all the benefits that supporters seek

But the USTR statement suggests this may not be a quick process 1/ https://twitter.com/AmbassadorTai/status/1390021205974003720?s=20
The text states that the US will support a TRIPS waiver for COVID-19 vaccines

It does not state it will support TRIPS waiver as proposed by South Africa and India, which which also covered diagnostics and therapeutics 2/
The USTR statement emphasized that negotiations will require time to reach consensus

WTO rules allow for three-fourths majority for a waiver to be adopted, but in practice the WTO has never abandoned “consensus decision-making” in favor of a vote 3/
2003 TRIPS waiver took more than 8 months to negotiate and negotiated result is so complicated that it has only been used once 4/
In 2019, the Trump Admin broke with EU to support a pharmaceutical transparency resolution at World Health Assembly

The final result was negotiated & watered down and has not yet delivered benefits on pricing many hoped

Let's hope for better here 5/ https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/news/drug-pricing-transparency-resolution/
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