The word "Covid-19" is reflected in a drop on a syringe needle in this illustration taken on November 9, 2020.GENEVA — The first World Trade Organisation meeting to discuss a draft agreement to temporarily waive intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines went "very well", its chair said on Friday , although some members voiced reservations.
"It went very well and here's why I say that. No member rejected the outcome as completely unacceptable," Ambassador Lansana Gberie from Sierra Leone, who chairs the council tasked with finding an agreement on the waiver, told Reuters after the closed-door meeting. However, two Geneva trade sources said after the meeting that some delegations had said the proposal fell short since it was too narrowly focused on vaccines, echoing criticism from some civil society groups.
The waiver idea, proposed by India and South Africa in Oct 2020, is supported by the majority of members of the global trade body.