March 24, 2022

Today, Chairman of Consumer Action for a Strong Economy, Gerard Scimeca, issued the following statement condemning the alleged agreement between the U.S., E.U, India, and South Africa that would force drug companies to surrender their lifesaving intellectual property (IP) on COVID-19 vaccines:

“The record-breaking development and deployment of COVID-19 vaccines would not have been possible without enormous investments secured by strong IP protections. Yet the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)has reached a tentative compromise with four World Trade Organization members that would waive global IP protections for COVID-19 vaccines and disrupt our fight against this pandemic.”

“Ending the COVID-19 pandemic must be one of the Biden Administration’s top priorities, yet this shortsighted reported agreement would dramatically impact American companies’ ability to respond to future variants and undermines our successful free market economy.In the interest of all Americans, we call on the USTR to abandon this disastrous agreement and support the future of American medical innovation.”