Kuttner on TAP: Vaccine Update: Pfizer Sticks It to Uncle Sam

The U.S. plans to purchase from Pfizer and donate to Third World countries hundreds of millions of doses of the COVID vaccine, according to a story leaked to The Washington Post. This is in addition to the more than 136 million doses already donated, according to the State Department.

This is a great thing, right? No, it’s a travesty. The total global need is at least 13 billion doses. Back in May, President Biden did something worth celebrating. He authorized U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to reverse the long-standing U.S. opposition to waiving the patent, copyright, and trademark protections of the WTO treaty known as TRIPS, to which the U.S. is a party.

With that waiver, countries with vaccine manufacturing capacity, such as India, could produce the Pfizer vaccine at cost, at adequate quantities, and deliver it worldwide. But since that brave gesture, career U.S. trade officials based at WTO headquarters in Geneva have slow-rolled the TRIPS waiver, and there has been no progress at getting vaccines actually produced in quantity.

It is even more of a travesty if Pfizer, which has already made many billions in windfall COVID profits, is charging Uncle Sam, aka the U.S. taxpayer, any kind of a markup. In the leaked Post story, terms were not disclosed.

The more the administration plays Pfizer’s game to purchase and donate what should be a public good, the more it plays into the drug industry’s hands and diverts public attention from the stalled TRIPS waiver.

Meanwhile, Big Pharma uses its muscle to kill Biden’s plans for reduced prescription drug costs to Americans. Want to pay the drug companies back? Get the TRIPS waiver done.