Sen. Daines Urges Biden Administration to Withdraw Support for COVID-19 IP Waiver

By Donald Zuhn --

Yesterday, Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) wrote to President Joseph Biden to share his concerns regarding the Biden Administration's support for waiving intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines and urge the President to reconsider his position on the proposed waiver.  In his letter, Sen. Daines (at right) asserted that "[s]uspending World Trade Organization (WTO) obligations to protect IP on COVID-19 vaccines would not only fail to significantly speed up vaccine distribution to the rest of the world, but it would set a dangerous precedent on IP protection at the international level and undermine American innovation."  Sen. Daines also argued that the proposed waiver would "provide[] for a technological windfall for adversaries such as China and Russia by giving away IP that has taken years of hard work and ingenuity by American scientists, not to mention billions in American investment, to perfect."

Instead of a waiver, Sen. Daines suggested that the Administration should "prioritize fighting COVID-19 internationally by getting more shots in arms in countries who need them without transferring critical technologies and undermining our global leadership position."  He noted that as states decline additional doses of COVID-19 vaccines, "the U.S. should focus on increasing production and capacity to provide support for global vaccine supply and leading the world in vaccine manufacturing and distribution."  Sen. Daines concluded his letter by urging the Biden Administration to withdraw its support for waiving IP protections for COVID-19 vaccines and "terminate any plans to participate in negotiations at the WTO necessary to move this dangerous proposal forward."

Comments

[Greg DeLassus]

“Sen. Daines suggested that the Administration should ‘prioritize fighting COVID-19 internationally by getting more shots in arms in countries who need them without transferring critical technologies and undermining our global leadership position.’ He noted that as states decline additional doses of COVID-19 vaccines, ‘the U.S. should focus on increasing production and capacity to provide support for global vaccine supply and leading the world in vaccine manufacturing and distribution.’”

Sen. Daines, most of us reading this blog are mere citizens. If we have ideas about how the government should respond to an emergency, our only option is to write letters to leaders explaining those ideas and urging the leaders to take them up.

*You*, however, are a UNITED STATES SENATOR. If you think that the administration should do this or that, you can INTRODUCE LEGISLATION. Writing letters is—for a man in your position—a mite underwhelming (one might say pathetic). Pull up your big boy pants and do your job. If you have a vision of how the U.S. should exercise our global leadership, draft a bill and start wrangling together a coalition of your colleagues to get it through the Congress.

[skeptical]

One virtue signal deserves another, eh?

Or is it only "D's" that are permitted to virtue signal without reproach?

[skeptical]

I would also note (on the "D" v "R" card), that the mite underwhelming, pull up your big boy pants angle has seen pretty much ONLY "R" pushback against the Biden Administration 'equity' angle push to support the India et al 'more than mere patent' waiver in order to teach the world how to fish.

I do have to wonder if this creates a cognitive dissonance for Mr. DeLassus, he of the liberal but pharma persuasions.